Gaming Inquiry PUBLIC AND GAMBLING

Wanganui Chronicle, 7 March 1947, Page 5

Gaming Inquiry PUBLIC AND GAMBLING

DOMINION SPORTSMEN’S ASSN. DEALS WITH ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

(Press Association) WELLINGTON, March 6 “That all gambling' is sinful and should be suppressed by legislation is a proposition upon which widely different points of view are held; but even assuming that it represents a commendable ideal, it should be sought through education and instruction rather than through legislative prohibition. Most people consider that to wager is a natural instinct which no law will prevent.' ’

So declared Mr. W. E. Leicester, leading counsel for the Dominion Sportsmen’s Association, when he opened Hie case for that body before the Royal Commission of Inquiry into gaming in'New Zealand.

“They regard betting on horse racing as a recreation and a diversion and do not consider it immoral,” Mr. Leicester continued.

“They oppose, if not resent, the contention that a society in which property is transferred by any method other than gift or exchange of labour is essentially anti-social in part of its foundations, and the contention that the fruits of gambling should be placed in the same category as theft, fraud, or extortion. “They repudiate the suggestion that, even in moderation, betting is not a pardonable amusement. It is to be remembered that many workmen find aplaxation in wagering small amounts in offcourse betting.

“They find that after a week’s tail, a pursuit of this description gives solace to what otherwise is often a drab life. They find considerable enjoyment in spending an afternoon in the week-end listening to the broadcasting ot races over the wireless, or the broadcasting of results, and at the same time having an interest in some horses running in such races.

As a means of spending their leisure hours, they prefer indulgence in offcourse betting, either to drinking in hotels or drinking elsewhere, or to the moral uplifting that would no doubt be derived from more cultural or artistic activities. Many contend that in off-course betting ot this description they are under less temptation to lose more titan they can afford than they would be were they to make inves’ mints on some racecourse. PREVENTED FROM ATTENDING RACE MEETINGS. “Whether or not this is so, many are prevented through one reason or another from attending race meetings, and off-course betting within their means provides a break from the monotony of everyday life. This position especially applies to many people in t!v smaller towns or in outback or isolated areas, and it applies also, in the large centres, to those who have

actually attended race meetings and desire to follow elsewhere the running of horses upon which they have previously invested their money, or in which they have a more special interest. To many such people Indulgence in off-course betting i s a hobby and a substantial interest in life, apart from their every-day work. Racing papers are bought and discussed, and racing form discussed from the time that nominations on various meetings are announced.

“It is submitted that those who support the present system of offcourse betting, illegal though It may be, do not consider it immoral. They lind themselves unable, upon any ethical basis, to draw a distinction between betting on the totalisator and betting with a bookmaker. If the law regards the one as justifiable, they fail to see why it should look upon the other as wrong. Nor can they accept the piew of the churches that such statements as the following are fallacious and illogical:

'We cannot accept a state of affairs that makes betting on a racecourse a sport of kings, and betting off it a spor.t of criminals ("Daily Telegraph, 12/6/1937). ‘The law as it stands now in most States treats a person who bets on the racecourse as a saint, and the person who bets elsewhere as a sinner... ('The Australian Women’s WeeKly’). If persons are to be permitted to bet upon the racecourse the same facilities should be given away from the racecourse.” (Evidence of Commissioner of Police before the South Australian Commission. 1933 —Minutes of evidence, page st. "Those who look upon betting translions, or gambling in any form, as a terrible evil would, if they were sincerely consistent, seek to close down .“’ceeourses altogether. It is difficult to see wiiy if a person cannot attend a race meeting, or does not desire to do so, his betting awav from a racecourse in another locality becomes a social scourge that must be exterminated. Il cannot be reasonably and logically argued that a bet on the course is moral and a bet off the course immoral—in other words, that it is a virtue to bet on the course and a vice to bet away from it. One is no more moral than the other; indeed, the implications are identical.”