“TOTE” ODDS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19478, 24 December 1925, Page 4

“TOTE” ODDS

“THE POST’S” PROSECUTIO. PROTEST AGAINST EXISTING LAW. DEMAND FOR REPEAL. j The conviction of the “Evening : Post” for a contravention of the { law in regard to the publication of , dividend and starting prices has , aroused interest throughout the Dominion. and there is a general consensus of opinion amongst the Press that au , altertition in the statute is necessary. Worthless and Irksome. ‘‘Horse-racing,’’ says the “New Zealand Herald,” “is a legitimate; sport, sanctioned by the Legislature 1 and by an overwhelming weight ot I public opinion; the totalisator is ' sanctioned by the Legislature, and the i State receives from it tin important ■ ■ contribution to its revenues. On the other hand, it is the legitimate business of new'spapers to publish matters of public interest, and there can be no question that totalisator dividends ’ come within that category. The ex- | isting prohibition is therefore irksome. I It is worthless because it is notorious | that exact information regarding the dividends on any race can be obtained . within au hour in any part of the ' country served by telegraph. But ' above all. the prohibition is condemned ,by its hypocrisy. It is exactly analo- ! gons to the pretence, embodied in this ' section of the law. that betting on the totalisator is ‘investment’; that huge •lotteries are art unions, and all alluvial , gold is no money.” The ‘‘Herald.' in further condemning the law, says: That it has been scrupulously observed for many years by the newspapers I does not justify its perpetuation; they have submitted under protest, and that will be their attitude until the Legislature recognises that it is not right to maintain irksome and needless rei strict ions. Better Off the Statute Book. The Dunedin “Evening Star” edi- . toriallv savs: ‘‘We take it that Wellington ‘Evening Post’s’ recent departure from practice in racing reporting was rather a challenge of the righteousness of this particular law than a test ,of its interpretation. We with other newspapers wish to associate ourselves in that challenge, in the sense that newspapers have been made protesting parties to a conspiracy which has conspicuously failed. A law which ; patently fails in its real aim every day of the week, year in and year out, is ■ better off the Statute Book. Otherwise how can respect for the law as a whole do anything but decline,” Has Driven Betting Underground.

In contending that the legislation <hould be reviewed. the “Lyttelton Times” says that the futilitv of the , . attempt to confine betting to the 2 race- i . courses, which was the intention of i '• Parliament in prohibiting the publi- : cation of information regarding divi- ' lends or starting prices, is well known, j as there is not a small town in the ( country where the results and particu- ( lars a* to the dividends are not available within an hour or two. probably less, of the e-ent being run. The only effect of the legislation has been to drive betting underground, and i it Las assisted the bookmaker by mak- ' ing him practically the sole source of information in those matters. Thu legislation should have been removed from the Statute Book years “lf the legislation was experimental. then sufficient time has elapsed for the effects to be accurately g.niged. and if that were done it wuub! be found that, instead of hampering the betting transactions To which objection is taken, it lias had unite the opposite effect,” says the : “Lyttelton Times.” ’ This is among the experiments that, have failed, and no good purpose can 1 be served by maintaining a law that ' is ineffective. “Tyrannical. Arbitrary, Stupid, and i Useless.” J Condemning the statutory command ■ < under notice as tyrannical, arbitrary. • stupid, and useless, the Christchurch “Press” says that everybody knows I I this, with the exception, perh*aps. of a handful of innocent creatures who . have been persuaded that the publication of dividends in the newspapers will increase “the gambling evil.”) Publication would perhaps not affect : **the gambling evil’’ one way or the j other, but if it affected the volume of betting at all. it would decrease it,

by demonstrating to those who do not go to races that dividends are as a rule moderate, ami that the odds are strongly and steadily agtainst one's making money at the races. There is positively nothing to be said for the . prohibition of the publication of dividends. and there is much to bo said | against it. N..thing stronger requires to be said ; •han that it is idiotic to forbid the newspapers to publish what, the law otherwise compels the racing clubs to ■ publish to tens of thousands three , miles away and cannot prevent from . being published by ami to everyone , interested from Auckland to Bluff. “A Legal Absurdity.” The “Otago Daily Times” says ■ that the -Magistrate’s decision serves to throw into relief the absurdity of the provisions of the Gaming Act un-i tier which “The Fust” was prosecuted. The prosecution initiated by ! law whi«-h has been vindicated remains as iiimh an anomaly as ever, i The insistence on the preservation of a futile law is without rhyme or reason. “and “the restriction imposed upon newspapers in this matter is, as i defending counsel pointed out in the Wellington case, both needless and ' worthless. The embargo on the appearance in newspapers of information which is published on the racecourse, which is there made known to thoul sands of persons, ami which is spread ' throughout the country with amazing i rapidity, can serve no beneficial purI pose whatever. ...” It is time that the absurdity of . the provisions of the Gaming Act I was fully recognised in the proper I quarter, and that the newspapers , were lawfully entitled to publish the j information in the ordinary way as

legitimate news in which the public are interested. The “Dominion” says that opinions may differ as to the Magistrate’s interpretation of the law iu question, but there should be little room for differences of opinion as to the law itself being both unfair and unreasonable. It is, says the “Dominion,” “a law thfat serves no good purpose, but serves, or is capable of serving, some bad ones The farcial nature of the restriction has long been recognised. It is apparently peculiar to New Zealand. In other countries betting odds and starting prices are published without Jet or hindrance, and no attempt is mitde by our authorities to suppress publications containing these particulars which come into the country from abroad. It is evidently impossible to justify the discrimination exercised in this matter against the newspapers of the Dominion. On the plain merits of the case, the 1 Evening Post’ is entitled to sympathy. It is not a pleasant thing for those in charge of a reputable newspaper to be haled into Court and subjected to penalties for publishing news that the public, desire and should be entitled to look for in the Press.” Expressing the opinion that the prohibition does little, if anything, to limit betting since particulars of dividends are readily available to all who desire to obtain them, and saying that an undesirable effect of the law as it stands is to offer some facilities for fraud that, could not be attempted if the newspapers were permitted to publish regular and reliable information of Totalisator investments because where news of this kind is driving underi ground there is always a possibility ’ that it may in some cases he falsified by those who have an eye to illicit ami fraudulent gains, the ‘‘Dominion” I concludes:—

The State legalises betting land the announcement of betting results on the racecourse. It descends to absolute futilitv in its ineffective attempts to prevent the wider publication of these results. Parliament should be given an early opportunity of again considering this question. A Farcical La'W. Under the heading “Time the Farce Was Ended,” the “New Zealand Times” remarks that it is high time the ban on the publisation of dividends was terminated. “The absurdity uf this particular piece of legislation is apparent to all but the wilfully blind,” says the “Times.” “To begin with —the dividends are broadcast after every meeting without the assistance of the newspapers. The prices paid by horses in Dunedin, say, can be ascertained in Wellington or Auckland by those interested. Apart altogether from the bookmakers, 90 per cent, of racegoers return from the course and publish the dividends on all isdes. It is admitted thlat the Press would give the information wider publicity. Even so, it cannot logically be argued thkv the result would l»e to encourage betting amoung the rank and file. That considerable army of people who ate fond of speulating on horse races will indulge their fancy whether dividends are published or not. Thlat is indisputable. yet the farce is allowed to continue. ’ ’

HIS RACE RUN LAST OF CARBINE’S JOCKEY. PERTH, Dcb. 17. There was a representative attendance of sportsmen at the Karrakatta Cemetery to-day, when Bob Ramage, the veteran jockey, who rode Carbine to victory in his great Melbourne Cup, was buried.