In the forefront of existing legislation with regard to betting is the great statute known as the Betting Act 1853, 16 & 17 Vict. c. 119. “This most salutary Act,” as Lord Chief Justice Russell called it, was passed when betting by the deposit of ready money was carried on to an enormous extent in houses and offices in towns, and only to a very limited extent in race-course enclosures; and the Attorney-General of the day, in telling the House of Commons that the Bill was not intended to interfere with Tattersall’s, was either unaware how rapidly the ready-money system at the races was growing,or designedly suppressed allusion to it, as an awkward question not absolutely necessary to be faced at the time. The Act crushed the town houses, and the business was transferred to the rings, and the question of the application of the Act to these open-air betting-shops was not decided by the (Criminal) High Court until 1897, inHawkev.Dunn(1897, 1 Q.B.), when Mr. Justice Hawkins, whose knowledge of the Turf was well known, delivered an unanimous judgment on behalf of the five judges of the Queen’s Bench Division who heard the case, holding the rings to be nothing but betting-houses or places. This meant police raids upon the rings, and the writer was assured at Scotland Yard that the police force would do its duty. But the stoppage of half the race meetings in the country was involved, and the Jockey Club and the bookmakers immediately trumped up a collusive civil case—Powellv.Kempton Park Co., Ltd.(1897, 2 Q.B.)—which could be carried above the (Criminal) High Court. The supposed plaintiff was a clerk in the office of the business men of the Jockey Club. It could not be found that he was either a householder or a ratepayer at the suburban address endorsed on the writ. His only status was obtained by getting a single share in the Kempton Park Co. from one of its directors, a bookmaker, and within a month of the above decision a writ was issued by him under the pretext that he wished to prevent the company permitting the illegalities condemned inHawkev.Dunn, but for the real purpose of re-trying the question in a form which might give a chance ofoverthrowing that decision in the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords. In each case the Courts were divided, but the majority of both went against the unanimous judgment of the Criminal Judges, although the collusion and misstatements were of so scandalous a nature that they were denounced by more than one member of the latter tribunal. These cases were long, but for the general public the question of whether the existing legislation of the Act of 1853 ought or ought not to have been held to apply to the rings can be put in a nutshell. All the Courts agreed that the rings must be treated as if they were capable of being “places.” How then could they be ruled out of the Act? Everything turned upon the construction of the language of sections 1 and 3; here it is, abbreviated but not altered: “Any person who, being the owner or occupier of any place, or a person using the same, shall open, keep, or use the same for the purpose of any money being received, etc.; and any person who, being the owner or occupier, shall knowingly and wilfully permit the same to be opened, kept, or used byany other personfor the purpose of any money being received, etc.” Everything turns upon the italicised words. Lord Chancellor Halsbury and the majority of the judges took the only view under which it was possible to protect the rings, by holding those italicised words to mean a person having authority over the whole ring, a person analogous to and of the same genus as the owner or occupier, and therefore as not applying to any one of the various bookmakers carrying on business on his own accountwithin it. Three questions which were not asked should have disposed of this view entirely:—
(1) If theany other personis a person analogous to and of the same genus as the owner or occupier, why is he in this second part of section 3 clearly considered to be in the subordinate position of a user by permission? And if this second part of the section does not hit such a person as the bookmaker, what possible person can it be aimed at, not already struck by the first part of the section (other than those having the care or management separately named later on)?
(2) Why did the Act immediately stop the business of the town houses? For, under the construction now given to it, the proprietor had merely to alter his arrangements, announcing that he himself would take no part in the betting, but would get his profit by an entrance fee charged to all comers alike, as the proprietors of the rings do.
(3) Under this construction, what is to prevent houses or rooms being opened in towns by hairdressers, tobacconists, or others, charging an entrance fee to all comers, but the proprietor taking no part in the betting?
Briefly summed up, the House of Lords’ judgment comes to this. The Kempton Park ring owners or occupiers are not responsible, because they do not themselves carry on the business of betting in the ring; and the bookmakers are not responsible, because, although they do this, they are not owners or occupiers, or persons using the same in control of, or authority in the place.
We have pointed out that the Act could have been shown to apply to the bookmakers but for the disgraceful collusion of this case, in which plaintiff and defendants desired the same result; but it is proper to qualify this by saying that the professional men, upon one side at all events, should be looked on as dupes rather than accomplices. Unhappily, it must be added that such a black page of disgrace would not have defaced our Law Reports but for private and influential pressure brought to bear upon certain members of the Courts of such a nature as to have outweighed with them the fearful responsibility of throwing open every public-house in the kingdom—indeed, potentially, every private house—as an authorised betting establishment; for the decisions finding public-houses to be “places” because bookmakers carry on business in them is absolutely contrary to the Powell-Kempton Park judgment, although this is done occasionally by the Courts, most anxious as all of them are to prevent the evils arising from public-house betting; but the shifts to which they are driven to reconcile their decisions with the Kempton judgment are almost as amusing as they are humiliating. Thus the strong arm of the Act of 1853 has been temporarily paralysed, and these peripatetic Monte Carlos all over the kingdom, the rings, have had their lives prolonged for the present.
There are, however, two subordinate sections, 5 and 7, which are of great importance, or rather have become so through the exertions of the National Anti-Gambling League. By judgments obtained inthe King’s Bench Division, and confirmed by the Court of Appeal (Lennoxv.StoddartandDavisv.Stoddart, C.A. 1902—2 K.B.), under sections 1 and 3 of the 1853 Act, the deposit of money for betting is illegal, even though not made direct to the house or place of business of the bookmaker. By these judgments it will be seen that all bookmakers advertising from offices in the United Kingdom and receiving deposits (before the issue of the events betted upon) thereor elsewhere, directly or indirectly, are keepers of betting-houses, and their advertisements illegal under section 7; and that the newspaper proprietors admitting these advertisements are also offenders under the same section. This has only recently become clear in law, and still awaits application on a large scale. The same remark applies to the operation of section 5, under which, by the Court of Appeal decisions referred to, all such deposits can be reclaimed for the senders by the special statutory right of the Act; in the words of Lord Justice Matthew, as “a penalty, or mulct in the nature of a penalty, for a violation of the terms of the Act of Parliament.” In many cases considerable sums have already been refunded by the bookmakers, but, while any loophole is left open by doubts as to the application of the Act of 1853 to bookmakers ostensibly giving no address in the United Kingdom, but carrying on business across the Channel, there is something to be said for the policy of not pressing the application of sections 5 and 7 before other lines of the campaign against the professional betting system.
Although the destructive judgment inPowellv.Kempton Parkreduces the public fear of betting in houses or places other than race-course rings to little more than a popular superstition, provided such places are arranged as indicated above, that fear still prevails, and has consequently brought about a regular system of betting almost anywhere and everywhere out of doors, commonly known as street betting. For many years the association formed to combat the general evil has busied itself,inter alia, in getting County and Municipal authorities to pass bye-laws against this street system of betting, and these are now in force in about 150 areas, including many of the principal cities and counties, but the Acts sanctioning these bye-laws (Counties, sec. 16 Local Government Act 1888; Cities, Towns, etc., sec. 23 Municipal Corporations Act 1882) only permitting a maximum fine of £5, without powers of arrest and search, have been found unequal to the evil, so that the fines are merely looked upon by the bookmakers as a tax on profits; and to the despair of the authorities the effect is merely to enhance the police fines by a small share of the profits of the trade. Wealthy bookmakers employ several underlings, and drive round in a trap at stated intervals to receive their takings, never appearing themselves before the magistrates, but merely supplying the fines to their servants. Others surround the exits of places of business of all kinds at the dinner hour, or even collect deposits at the small houses of the workers, during their absence, from their wives; and numbers of them adopt the subtle plan ofbribing foremen and forewomen on the business premises to act as their agents by giving them a commission on the profits. Circulars have been published in theTimes, received from bookmakers by foremen in the employ of mercantile firms of first class standing, offering 10 per cent commission to influential employees. Convincing evidence was given before the Select Committee of the House of Lords as to the deteriorating effects of the professional betting system upon the character and work of British artisans, and the information subsequently published by the Moseley Commission strongly confirms this in making comparisons with foreign workmen.
Having laid before the reader an account of existing legislation at the commencement of the twentieth century with regard, firstly, to Miscellaneous Gambling, and, secondly, Betting, suggestions shall now be made as to how the law can be amended and made more operative; but as the last of the two items, Betting, is freshest in the mind, the order shall be reversed, and it shall first occupy our consideration.
It would be useless to confuse the reader’s mind by going through the statutes relating to betting, other than the Act of 1853, which is the reformer’s armoury; but it requires to be refurbished and enlarged, and will then be capable, supplementedby the proposed Street Betting Bill, of bringing about a great and beneficial change.
What is desirable must be subdivided into what may be considered now practicable, in accordance with the position approached by public opinion; and further reforms, to prepare the way for which social reformers have still much to do.
It may be wise, and save time in the end, to confine attempts at legislation to three short and simple improvements, viz.: (1) passing the Street Betting Bill for largely increasing the fines and inflicting imprisonment for that offence, as unanimously recommended by the Select Committee of the House of Lords; (2) an amendment of section 7 of the Betting Act of 1853, subjecting advertisements of foreign betting-houses to the same penalties as those in the United Kingdom; and altering the wording of the same, which now only condemns advertisements “whereby it shall be made to appear,” which words were regretfully held by the King’s Bench Division inAshley and Smith, Ltd., v.Hawke, K.B.D. 1903 (Sportsman), not to cover the advertisements of notorious betting-houses, as the advertisements on their face merely referred to races, etc., and gave the necessary address for communications and remittances. Such advertisements have always been considered as dubiously lawful, and double charges are paid for their insertion. More than one of the sporting, or rather betting, papers make profits of £5000 to £7000 a year out of them; and the Lord Chief Justice, in his judgment, spoke of the necessity of legislation, as has been already stated;(3) making payments of bets in public-houses illegal. A Bill of twenty lines might cover the whole of the above.
With these three amendments of the law, and Scotland Yard enforcing the present laws as expounded in the Court of Appeal cases above against the betting-houses, great progress will be made. The bankruptcy authorities should take advantage of these decisions to insist upon the return of all monies sent to bookmakers by debtors within the statute of limitations, under section 5 of the 1853 Act.
But these improvements, so long as thePowellv.Kempton Parkcase remains unchallenged, or the law as to “persons using” unaltered, will still leave all British sport grounds open to the baneful influence of the bookmaker—indeed, as previously explained, every house, room, or enclosed place in the kingdom. The time will surely come when the nation will insist upon this scandal being removed. Reasons have been given for thinking that the House of Lords’ judgment inPowellv.Kempton Parkcannot possibly be the right interpretation of the Act of 1853; and that it was differently interpreted by the racing world, and by the Jockey Club itself, even twenty years after it was passed, may be shown by here quoting from the notice in theRacing Calendarpublished in 1874: “It having come to the knowledge of the Stewards of the Jockey Club that betting for ready money in the ring ... has taken place at Newmarket, they hereby give notice that no such illegal betting is permittedeither in the enclosures or any part of their property at Newmarket.” Thus in 1874 deposit-taking by bookmakers was held to be illegal, for it is quite impossible that the notice refers to persons in authority and control, as Lord Halsbury now says the persons using are, for the controllers were the stewards themselves or their managers, and these managers are separately provided for in the Act. When it is determined to suppress professional betting the alteration in the wording of the Act need be only a simple one to free athletic sports of all kinds from the farce of the immunity of the proprietor as not betting but taking entrance fees, and of the bookmakers as betting but not being proprietors. But if the awful consequences following from the professional betting system were fully known, an Act making the calling itself entirely illegal would appeal strongly to the public conscience. To license them would be as bad as to return to the days of state lotteries, or to adopt the Continental plan of taking special taxes in commutation of the offences of those who trade upon other vices.
When in any system of business the element of commerce and gambling are inextricably mixed, it is wise to adopt a line of expediency. The gambler should at least pay the same dues as the genuine investor. To ensure this no contract should be made enforceable or legal unless made upon Governmentstamped paper. The real buyer of £500 would not complain of having to pay 2s. or say 1s. per £100 to the National Exchequer; but the dealers in a £2,000,000 gambling contract would think twice before incurring a first definite outlay of £2000 or even £1000 cash down. A similar regulation would be desirable for the Produce, etc., Exchanges. In this way, by a perfectly equitable legal enactment, the wings of outrageous speculation would be clipped. An additional improvement would be an extension to all stocks and shares upon the lines of the principles of the Bank Act 1867, 30 Vict., c. 29. Prior to its passing, gambling in the shares of Banks had become a scandal, and a danger to credit. It provided for contracts setting forth the distinctive numbers of Bank shares, so as to prevent sales of shares of which the sellers were not possessed. In the produce markets similar requirements could be insisted on to bring about a corresponding result.
Illegal Games.—The legislative remedy here should be to abolish the old interdict of certain special games, and to make all games of combined skill and chance illegal when played for money. But this would be a counsel of perfection which, in the present state of public opinion, would have no chance of being carried out. If, however, the words were added, “by players of unequal experience and skill,” it would give the Courts power to penalisethe rooks in all such glaring cases as their victims should place in the hands of the authorities. Nor does there seem to be any reason why the old idea of restrictions as to amount should not be made good use of. There would be an enormous balance of advantage if it were declared illegal for a person to obtain during any one day a sum exceeding £10 by gaming, or for minors to gamble at all. The flocks of pigeons would to some extent be protected, however little the rook minority liked it, and society should benefit in every way. Such a regulation would sweep away the scandalous immunity enjoyed by rich men’s clubs; and, considering the widespread ruin for which they are responsible, and the present disgraceful unfairness of the law as between the poor and the wealthy, its application should work an incalculable improvement.
Playing with Gaming-Machines.—The Courts now seem disposed to construe the question of a modicum of skill more severely in this connection as children are so largely affected, and from what has been said above it may be hoped that the automatic machines are doomed. The above remarks, however, with regard to combined skill and chance and restriction of amount, apply here also to a certain extent, especially with regard to their use in clubs. The difficulties will be great of applying such regulations to gambling in private houses until the moral sense of the community becomes more keenly alive to the penalties of sorrow, ruin, and degradation which are the sad sequel of its neglect.
Lotteries and Sweepstakes.—The Lottery Acts now existing might have been fairly efficient if it were not for the difficulty, delay, and expense in having to obtain in certain cases the leave of the Attorney-General before proceedings can be taken. This especially applies in the matter of newspapers which benefit by advertising the lotteries. They are protected by 8 & 9 Vict. c. 74, the provision in which needs modification. There is still much, however, to be desired in the efficiency of administration, which cannot be fully attained until the farcical practice of allowing the law to be broken for charitable purposes is given up. Some years ago the Scotch authorities openly stated in reply to a remonstrance that in such cases no interference would be made. This lache has been to a large extent followed in England, and when the National Anti-Gambling League pointed out to the late Mr. Adrian Hope, the Secretary for the Hospital for Sick Children in Great Ormond Street, that the great raffles intended to be held at the Coronation Bazaar at the London Botanical Gardens were in contravention of the law, he merely declined to drop them, and said that one of the Judges had bought the first ticket for the chief lottery. Questions had to be asked in the House of Commons before they could be stopped, after the illegality had been acknowledged by Ministers.
To sum up under this head, the Post Office should have increased powers and inducements to destroy lottery matter, and to confiscate and appropriate for the benefit of the Rowland HillMemorial Fund, in which the Post Office is so much interested, all lottery remittances, whether British or foreign; the question of the Attorney-General’s fiat for prosecutions should be reconsidered; and the police authorities should be stimulated to institute a regular and impartial campaign. How grossly the weapons of the law in regard to lotteries have been neglected may be illustrated by a statement made in a Treasury prosecution at Clerkenwell Police Court in June 1904, to the effect that one of the most important statutes, 4 Geo. IV. c. 60, was extremely difficult to find, not being printed in the ordinary book of statutes, and was not found in any magisterial text-book.
Press Competitions and Coupon Gambling.—So numerous are the devices of the baser organs of the press, and even of some which find it difficult to hold out against their competition, that no reform of the law is likely to be effective without some enactment making the offering of prizes illegal beyond a certain small amount; which compromise can hardly be avoided, because the best of these newspaper competitions offer undoubtedly some educational inducements. Those which are merely gambling vehicles should be suppressed. The bad position here again rests upon the foolish old dictum as to a modicum of skill covering a quantity of gambling. For instance, an unfortunate decision of the High Court inHallv.Cox(1 Q.B. 1899), held that guesses at the numbers of the next Registrar-General’s return (although any competitor could purchase any quantity of the newspaper, fillingin a different number for each one, thus making it an extensive gamble at will) did not constitute a lottery, because a certain amount of skill could be exercised by the study of previous returns. This led to numerous imitations, one of which was guessing at the future circulation of a paper, which had the additional journalistic merit of acting as a good advertisement. Amongst many, one poor and foolish artisan acknowledged that he had purchased considerable numbers of the newspaper, and its great increase in circulation by the device shows how many credulous persons were willing to gamble under the shelter of the law.
Two brief sections should meet the difficulties under this heading:—
1. Make all such competitions in which there is a material element of chance illegal.
2. Make it illegal for any publication to offer in any one edition a prize or prizes of the aggregate value of more than £5 for any purpose whatever.
Gambling in Clubs.—With regard to the law as to betting in clubs, allusion has already been made toDownesv.Johnson(2 Q.B. 1895) and a recent decision of Mr. Justice Bucknill which appears to follow upon the lines of that most unfortunate and harmful judgment. The alteration of the law needed here (none should be needed but for the interpretation put upon the words “person using” and “any other person” in section 30 of the Betting Act of 1853, as meaning persons in authority in the place, in thePowellv.Kempton Parkcase) is to so alter the section that the proprietors orcommittee of a club shall not escape responsibility for individuals, like the bookmakers in a race-course ring, carrying on betting businesses. Merely a clear definition of “persons using” as including such individuals is needed. This would bring all these betting establishments, some of which merely pretend to be social clubs, into the category of betting-houses, which are common gaming-houses; and if this were supplemented by a section as previously suggested, following the idea of the statutes of Anne and 18 George II., making the gain by any one member of a club of a greater sum than £10, on any game or chance whatever, upon any particular day, an offence entailing the same consequences, a heavy blow would be struck at gambling clubs of all kinds.
As to other gaming in clubs, chiefly card-playing, the reader who plods through the long technical judgment of Mr. Justice Hawkins inJenksv.Turpin(13 Q.B.D.) will be chiefly impressed by the feeling that the police authorities systematically fail to make use of the existing laws, which is indeed the fact; but this is owing in great measure to difficulties in obtaining evidence, and the natural reluctance to order raids while the gamesters have the power to retaliate in case of failure. When elaborate preparations have been made at the cost of much labour, time, and expense, heavy bribery will often obtain the needful warning even from within the police force. The great clubs are seldom or never touched, and until a special department is formed at Scotland Yard under an able and determined chief, with absolutepower of instant dismissal and punishment and liberal reward in dealing with his subordinates, our social life will continue to be poisoned with the evils of club gambling. If this were done and the old £10 limit named above once more revived, and greater power conferred to punish the players as well as the club committees and proprietors, club gambling would dwindle and the career of the professional gamester become less profitable and more precarious, while fortunes and incomes now thrown away would be applied to fruitful and honest purposes.
Petty Gambling.—In the matter of petty gambling what is needed is not so much amendments of the law (the enormous demand for playing-cards seems, indeed, to make the reimposition of a tax advisable) as its assiduous application by the authorities. It is now so diffused, unhappily owing in great part to the habit the nation has fallen into of looking upon gambling as a venial vice, if vice at all, that their task may well seem endless; and in this connection the most effective legislative enactment, for petty gambling is very widespread amongst juveniles, might well be some considered scheme compulsorily providing for teaching the young in primary and secondary schools how wrong it is and what evils it leads to. The materials exist for enabling this to be done in a very incisive manner, and by the time such systematic lessons have permeated the rising generation their elders may become as ashamed of indulging in betting and gambling as they may now be said to be of drunkenness.
It remains to say a few words about the press, which is largely responsible for the great evils of gambling, particularly of the professional betting system, under the plea of devotion to sport, which even the Duke of Devonshire seems to consider is being overdone, according to a recent speech made by him in public. The prohibition of the betting odds was strongly urged upon the Select Committee of the House of Lords. It would be a fatal blow to bookmaking, for nine bets out of ten are now made without agreement with the bookmakers as to the figures, but depending upon their subsequent publication as reported from the starting-post. The betting men put forward advocates before the Committee who pretended to think that such legislation would not reduce betting, but the best test is the frantic opposition which the bookmakers offer to the proposition. It is earnestly advocated by men like Mr. Le Blanc Smith of Oxford University and others interested in the purity of sport. The Committee say in their Report on Betting (Report and Evidence, No. 389, 1902; Evidence, No. 370, 1901; Index, 173 and 114, 1902): “There can be little doubt that the almost universal practice of publishing in newspapers what are known as ‘Starting-Price Odds’ greatly facilitates betting upon horse-races”; but, as they considered it to be in the nature of news, and a protection against fraud, they were not prepared to recommend the suggestion. It may be pointed out, however, that although nodoubt the odds published are often correct, there is a regular system arranged between the bookmakers and the baser press organs for quoting unreal odds to lure on the public, which was exposed three years ago in an amusing controversy between two London newspapers. Moreover, the prevention of the swindling of some of the foolish public by bookmakers seems a poor reason for permitting the continuation of a practice which so materially assists in the demoralisation of hundreds of thousands of the populace. Considerable pains have been taken to ascertain privately the feeling of the better class of newspapers upon this subject, and it is found that they would welcome such a prohibition, provided it be made universal, as it will actually benefit all respectable journals. Their circulation is reduced by the public being led to spend their “press money” upon the so-called sporting or betting papers, the number of which is legion, many of them making great incomes of thousands per annum; besides which a considerable number of the less respectable newspapers issue during the racing seasons editions printed literally for nothing beyond the result of horse-races, and in the winter of football matches, the ordinary matter which has remained in type enabling them to escape from the meshes of the new bye-laws as to publications consisting wholly or chiefly of sporting—betting—information. Parliament will have to make up its mind some day to deal with this aspect of the betting question, and to say that the liberty of the press is not liberty to debauch the public and toshare in the proceeds of doing so; that if Lord Beaconsfield was right, in his time, in stigmatising the Turf as a vast engine of national demoralisation, and if its powers for evil are now far greater than in his days, the press shall not continue to bolster up the system by publishing the odds, and sharing in its ill-gained profits through the medium of advertisements.
In conclusion, it may be said that when such time arrives the conviction will also be held by the people of the United Kingdom that the professional gambler in the stock and produce markets, whose operations it is not always possible to challenge as being entirely unconnected with commerce, should at least have his huge dealings hampered by apro ratatax, the incidence of which would not interfere withbona fidepurchases and sales; that our police forces must be saved from becoming as corrupt as Tammany Hall through bookmakers’ bribes, to which several of them are well on the way; that the great Department of the Post Office must not continue to swell its revenues by using its organisation to assist the corrupt business of betting, even granting it special facilities, whatever may be alleged to the contrary—in particular, with regard to the telegraphic service, in which overt temptations to the servants in its employ are continually resulting in its having to prosecute them in batches, notably the younger ones among them, in the name of publicmorality, but practically for the protection of this bookmaking system which the Post Office, as its intermediary for deposits, assists and fosters in its work of breeding criminals and cheating fools; and finally that those individuals who, without the vestige of any mercantile basis, prey upon the credulity and vices of their fellow-countrymen should be looked upon ashostes humani generis, so that the bookmakers shall be treated as criminals and punished, not by fines but by imprisonment.
Then, perhaps, also, the habitual private gambler of means and position will find every public career and honour withheld from him, and this great Christian nation will approach the plane of morality now occupied in this respect by our allied heathen empire of Japan.
ByB. Seebohm Rowntree
In seeking remedies for the acknowledged national evils of betting and gambling, it will be well to consider what are the causes that have probably chiefly contributed to the present deplorable state of things.
Amongst the wealthy or well-to-do there can be little doubt that (a) the thoughtless following of fashion, (b) the desire for excitement and a sense of “life,” and (c) the craving for gain without labour, are the main incentives to gambling practices. The same causes, though in differing degrees, and finding expression in somewhat differing forms, appear also to lie at the root of the matter amongst the artisan classes and the labouring poor.
So far as concerns the following of fashion, the unwillingness to hold out against the customs of one’s comrades, and to go against the stream, human nature is the same in rich and poor, and there is no remedy for this failing but improvement of the moral stamina of the individual.
With regard, however, to the desire for excitementand a certain fulness of life, there are causes operating which differ widely in the cases of the rich and the poor. The monotony of the rich is a monotony of surfeit. They have means to satisfy all their material needs, and the very fact that they need not strive after anything brings satiety into everything, and with it the craving for excitement. And excitement in abundance may be found in gambling. This has been well put by Dr. Robertson:—
What we want is life, “more life and fuller.” To escape from monotony, to get away from the life of mere routine and habits, to feel that we are alive—with more of surprise and wakefulness in our existence. To have less of the gelid, torpid, tortoise-like existence. “To feel the years before us.” To be consciously existing.Now, this desire lies at the bottom of many forms of life which are apparently as diverse as possible. It constitutes the fascination of the gambler’s life; money is not what he wants—were he possessed of thousands to-day he would risk them all to-morrow—but it is that, being perpetually on the brink of enormous wealth and utter ruin, he is compelled to realise at every moment the possibility of extremes of life. Every moment is one of feeling.
What we want is life, “more life and fuller.” To escape from monotony, to get away from the life of mere routine and habits, to feel that we are alive—with more of surprise and wakefulness in our existence. To have less of the gelid, torpid, tortoise-like existence. “To feel the years before us.” To be consciously existing.
Now, this desire lies at the bottom of many forms of life which are apparently as diverse as possible. It constitutes the fascination of the gambler’s life; money is not what he wants—were he possessed of thousands to-day he would risk them all to-morrow—but it is that, being perpetually on the brink of enormous wealth and utter ruin, he is compelled to realise at every moment the possibility of extremes of life. Every moment is one of feeling.
In the case of the poor, on the other hand, monotony of life arises from the very absence of the external advantages of the wealthier. The young man, after a day of monotonous toil in some uninteresting occupation, has too often to come home to his small and overcrowded house in a dingy back street, where his only living room isone which must serve the purposes of kitchen, nursery, parlour, and dining-room, and where he can find no relief from the noisy children. His mental horizon is extremely limited, and he has hardly any intellectual interests. He cannot afford the forms of recreation that would be indulged in by his unintellectual brother among the richer classes of Society, and yet he has the same desire for “life.” He thinks to get it cheaply by betting.
Again, the desire of gain without work is common to all classes. With the well-to-do and the professional, it may take the reputable form of speculating in stocks and shares—a large proportion of a sharebroker’s business is notoriously for speculative clients; but the poor also may succumb to the temptation, though on a humbler scale. The writer heard recently of a woman who had her family to maintain, and who, with but one shilling in the world, staked it on a horse in the hope of mending matters.
If then the causes of gambling are so widespread, and are due to conditions all but universal in this country, can anything be done in the way of remedy?
Undoubtedly much may be done in the way of legislative and administrative steps, the right direction of which is indicated in the Report published by the House of Lords’ Commission.[11]It is important that we should urge upon Parliament the need for laws upon these lines.
But apart altogether from legislation—though at the same time tending to ripen public opinion for more stringent laws—a good deal may be achieved, and it is the object of this paper to make suggestions in this direction.
Unquestionably the first thing which those should do who are desirous of suppressing the gambling evil is absolutely to dissociate themselves from any form of it whatever, commercial or otherwise. Even those who play cards for insignificant stakes, or who place very small amounts upon horses—amounts so small that it is practically immaterial whether they win or lose—are nevertheless severely handicapping themselves in any effort they may make to check the gambling curse. They undo the influence which they might exert upon children, workmen, or employees, who notice that they indulge in gambling transactions, but do not notice, or at any rate soon forget, that these transactions are extremely small in amount. The influence of would-be reformers must be unreservedly opposed to the evil, even in those forms which are apparently harmless, for it is just these which are the first links in a chain which may eventually bind some weaker brother hand and foot.
The writer is aware that in urging the avoidance of gambling in commercial transactions he exposes himself to the objection that gambling and commerce are apparently inextricably associated. He does not, however, seek to maintain that any hard and fast line can be drawn, transactions on oneside of which are to be described as of a speculative or gambling nature, and on the other as legitimate business. He is aware that in every business there must be some amount of speculation, just as there is every time that we decide whether we shall or shall not take an umbrella when we go for a walk. He is aware, too, that in business much depends upon the special circumstances of the case and the spirit in which the transaction is undertaken, but he would nevertheless urge the importance of reducing the speculative element in business to the lowest possible point, rather than the adoption of a policy which introduces needless uncertainty as to the future.
Having first taken care that our personal influence is cast unhesitatingly upon the right side, we should next seek to createa sound Public Opinion. There is great need for the spread of information regarding the extent of the evil, as the facts in connection with it are at present but little known. Generally speaking, the public have not yet realised that betting and gambling are wrong, or that the evil has spread until it has become a grave national danger. Even the Churches have not yet at all generally spoken out with regard to the question, and much may be done in stirring them up in the matter. Although almost every Church has some organised temperance society actively at work, how many Churches have undertaken any organised effort for the suppression of gambling? In how many cities of the British Islands does an anti-gambling societyexist? Here at any rate direct work may at once be started towards the formation of enlightened public opinion. It is important that a branch of the National Anti-Gambling Society should be formed in every town, whether it be directly connected with the local Churches or otherwise. In one town with which the writer is familiar, a society of this kind was formed seven years ago. Its annual income, raised by subscriptions, only averages about £30, but, nevertheless, it has been able to do a large amount of steady work, which has undoubtedly resulted in the creation in the town of a much sounder public opinion with regard to this great question than existed previously. This society has prepared fly-leaves and pamphlets, and distributed them from house to house once or twice a year. It communicates with the clergy each year just before the spring and summer race meetings, and bespeaks reference in their sermons to the gambling then prevalent. It arranges to send speakers to address various meetings held in connection with churches and chapels; such, for instance, as P.S.A., Men’s Bible Classes, and special theatre services. It has also organised many public meetings on its own account, as, for example, during the week in which this article was written, when an open-air meeting was held on a Sunday afternoon, at which about 1000 persons were present. As might be anticipated, the experience of this society is that it is difficult to get to these meetings those who themselves indulge in betting and gambling on any extensive scale, butthe committee feel that the meetings rouse interest in the question among the more thoughtful members of the community, who, in their turn, will personally influence other people, and probably at the present time this is a more fruitful line of service than attempting to make a direct appeal to gamblers.
We may derive encouragement in the slow work of leavening public opinion as to gambling from the memory of the revolution that has taken place in public opinion with regard to drunkenness. In the time of the later Georges, it was no disgrace for a statesman to be seen drunk in public. Now, even a workman would lose caste with his respectable companions if he were seen drunk. We must at any cost enlist this compelling power of Public Opinion. We want all classes to pass on confirmed gamblers the same judgment as they pass on confirmed drinkers. We want, too, a public opinion which will condemn commercial gambling just as much as betting upon horses or anything else, or playing cards for high stakes. There is, indeed, a healthy growth of religious opinion at the present time with regard to raffles at bazaars, but there is much need for further education even on this question. Some time ago the writer received a request to take part in an enormous raffle which was being organised on behalf of a religious institution in Ireland, the prizes in which included a cameo of Leo XIII. (specially presented by the Pope himself), and a motor-car valued at £300. Knowing that such transactions were entirely illegal, he communicated with the police at Dublin Castle, and asked whetherthey were intending to take action in connection with the matter. He was, however, informed that, since the object was religious, they did not intend doing so. He then requested a Member of Parliament to put a question in the House with regard to the matter, but he was informed that a question dealing with a similar case had been put two or three weeks before, and that the responsible Minister had replied that, although it was known that lotteries of this character were illegal, it was not the custom to interfere when they were for a religious purpose! Such an example indicates how inadequate is the appreciation on the part even of those in high positions of the seriousness of the gambling evil in this country, and of the necessity of taking all legitimate steps for its discouragement and suppression. Indeed, the same apathy and lack of intelligent interest is not infrequently to be found even amongst dignitaries of the Anglican Church. On one occasion the writer wrote to a clergyman of high station asking him to take the chair at an anti-gambling meeting to be held after church hours on a Sunday night. He received a reply to the effect that the clergyman in question could not come, believing as he did that the “Sabbath was made for edification and dedication, and not for demonstration and declamation”; and, further, that probably his views with regard to the question were not those of the Committee of the Anti-Gambling Society, as he considered that there was no harm in gambling unless a sum were staked greater than the gambler was prepared to pay if called upon to do so! Suchan opinion is not isolated, even among comparatively thoughtful people.
It is quite likely that with most gamblers any attempt to convince them that gambling is wrong in itself will fail. Probably more impression is made, especially on beginners, by exposing the folly of the practice. In the case of boys leaving school and entering early manhood, who think it smart and manly to bet, we can show them that, so far from this being the case, betting with bookmakers is the hall-mark of an ignorant greenhorn. We can show them how the bookmaker is a parasite upon society, preying upon the ignorance of the foolish people who bet with him, and often living uncommonly well at their expense, as was the bookmaker arrested in Manchester, whose books showed that he had made £5846 in five months. The extent to which gross ignorance of all that it is important to know in estimating the chances of a horse passes for profound knowledge amongst betting men is astounding. The writer remembers travelling one day from Newcastle with a number of working men who were going to attend the races at Thirsk. They were evidently men who habitually betted and closely followed the betting news in the papers. To any one with the slightest knowledge of horses, their discussion, although accompanied by airs of profound wisdom, was in the highest degree amusing, the climax coming when one man, whose opinion was evidently greatly valued by the rest, gave as his reason for not backing a certain horse, “He wags his tail ower much for me.”
For telling ridicule of the gambling folly there is nothing better than Charles Kingsley’sLetter to Young Men on Betting and Gambling.[12]It is probably well known, but the writer cannot refrain from quoting one or two passages:—