The Club Smoking Room

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 16, 21 April 1909, Page 4

The Club Smoking Room

By

HAVANA.

The Bookmaker Nuisance, LEGISLATORS,” remarked the padre, “do not always consider the results likely to follow from some of the legislation they are e> fond of rushing through when the House is half asleep. I give them every exdit for good intentions, but other places besides our Houses of Parliament are paved with good intentions. It often happens that a body of very worthy and very excellent people consieer.s that some admitted moral evil can be entirely swept away or at least greatly mitigated by the simple process of passing an Act of Parliament. I do rot myself believe that any law can do the slightest good unless it has behind it the support of the immense majority of the people. If you legislate in advance of public opinion or contrary to public opinion you produce a state of affairs that is worse than the evil you set out to remedy. The utter failure of our Gaining Act. as regarde the licenses given to bookmakers, seems to me to be a case in point.” A Fool and a Bettor. “1 suppose, padre, that what you know about horse-racing doe-n't amount to much,” suggested a sporting member. “You get your views from the newspapers ami what you hear at religious tea-meetings. I can claim to know something of these matters from the inside, end all 1 can say is that the man who lx is in the hope of making money is a fool. Everything is against him. Some race- are honestly run and some are not; I am afraid a good many are not, and the man in the street has no means of knowing whether a horse is meant to win or V hi ther ho is being saved for something more worth while. But if you were to assume that every race was honestly run. and you may take my word for it that it would be a big assumption to make, you would still find that the bookmakers and tlie tote had a big advantage. On the tote ten per cent of the money goes ae commission. whilst bookies so arrange their books that they must win in the long run. People are attracted by hearing of big dividends and large coups occasionally brought off, but the men who grow rich out of following racing are not the men who back their fancy.” A Nation of Gamblers. “\Ye are said to be a nation of gamblers,” said another member, “and the remark is probably' true. The gambling instinct in itself is not altogether I'ud whatever the parsons may- say- on the matter. It is the spirit that induces a person to risk much in the hope of gaining more. It was in reality the gambling spirt, that founded our colonies. Men were willing to give up comfort and eecurity in England and face discomfort and danger in other lands in the hope that they would draw a big dividend. The rush for the gold-diggings was really a gamble. Some got enormously rich and others lost all they had. We gamble in land and stocks and shares and wheat, and business is pushed forward by the men who ore willing to risk their money in speculation. But in these cases the returns are not so quick as they are in horseracing and cards and roulette, end so men prefer a gamble in which they con win or lose on the spot. Still, if it were not for the spirit of speculation things would be pretty stagnant sometimes. There wouldn't be much business done if everybody put their money into console an<J Government debentures.

Legitimate or Illegitimate. "1 don't want to discourse on the ethics of gambling,” replied the padre, “although to my mind there is a great deal of difference between legitimate business speculation and risking your live franc pieces at Monte Carlo or putting your pound note on the totalisator. But to my mind, nothing can exeiue the present hap-hazard manner of licensing bookmakers. Any man, as far as I understand, can get a license by paying a fee. The clubs naturally like to get as many fees as possible, and don’t trouble much about the character of the applicant. Indeed. I don’t quite see how they could’ well refuse a license without running the risk of an action for defamation of character. The secretary can’t very well tell a man to his face that he looks like a spieler, and unless

an applicant- is a notorious rogue, it seems to me that the. club is bound to issue the license. The worst of it is that once a man is a licensed bookmaker, the general public regards him as being necessarily an honest man, bearing the Government hall-mark of credit and respectability. The police are powerless to interfere, and you get what one paper recently- described as licensed mugdom.” A Mob of Unscrupulous Ruffians. "I know one thing,” said a racing man, “and that is that the Gaming Act has not in any way- purified the turf, whatever the intention of its framers may have been. There has been, for one thing, an enormous increase in the volume of wagering on horse races, and I hardly- fancy that our legislators desired this as the result of their efforts to legislate for licensing bookmakers. But that has not been by any means the worst evil. At present our racecourses are infested by- a mob of unscrupulous ruffians, who are not under any kind of restraint. Under the guise of being bookmakers they are able to demand from the clubs the issue of licenses to bet. In the old days some of these gentry would have been arrested by the police for vagrancy-, but they are now quite immune front attentions of this sort. They contend

that they have a visible lawful means of support, and they produce their licenses to bet, or, as they put it, ‘their permits to lay the field,’ if challenged by the police to show how they get a living.” The Iniquity of the Present System “I fancy- we have had experience of that lately,” put ip a visitor. “I think some of the scenes witnessed at the Easter races ought to open the eyes of the authorities to the iniquity of our present system. You have the welsher unable or unwilling to pay being nearly torn to pieces by a mob whose most savage instincts are aroused. All the worst features of human nature are exhibited on these occasions, and such spectacles are a disgrace to our civilisation. I have heard it said on reliable authority, though with what amount of truth I can’t say, that some of these licensed bookmakers arrange matters beforehand with a confederate. When the bag is fairly full, all the money is handed over to the pal, who makes off with it as fast as he can. The bookmaker stays to face the crowd, being quite willing to take a little rough handling, and trusting to the police to protect him from serious

injury-. The two meet afterwards at some place previously agreed upon, and divide the spoil. The whole thing is rapidly- assuming the proportions of a serious scandal.” In Wellington. “In Wellington,” replied the previous speaker, “it is estimated that there are no fewer than thirty- men who, though in real truth incorrigible vagrants and worse, are allowed to live a lawless life without restraint. Robberies from the person were never so numerous on the racecourses as now. After every meeting case after case is reported to the police. The Gaming Act, by compelling racing clubs to issue licenses to so-called bookmakers, is in reality a measure for licensing thugs. There is no doubt that things are worse than ever since tire Act was passed. The facilities for wagering have been enormously increased, and all sorts of vagrant parasites and nomads have had their status raised, and as duly licensed and authorised bookmakers they can go their own way- unmolested, absolutely- imnipne from prosecution. Any pot-house loafer, or spieler, or pickpicket, can get a license, and the whole thing has become a menace to law-abiding oitkens. Let us hope the Government

will do something to mend or end thq Act, and so do away with wlqit is little short of a national seaaidal and disgrace."