Part 13

“‘But they know what the horse has done already.’ Yes; but not what the horse might have done. They do not know—no one can, who is not in the secrets of the Turf—what the horse’s engagements really are; whether he has not been kept back in view of those engagements; whether he will not be kept back again; whether he has not been used to make play for another horse; and—in one word—whether he is _meant_ to win.

“‘Ah, but the young gentleman has sent his money on commission to a prophet in the newspaper, in whom he has the highest confidence; he has prophesied the winner two or three times at least; and a friend of his sent him money to lay on, and got back ever so much; and he has a wonderful Greek name, Lynceus, or Polyphemus, or Typhlops, or something, and so he must know.’

“Ah! fool, fool! You know how often the great Polyphemus prophesied the winner, but you do not know how often he did not. Hits count of course; but misses are hushed up. And as for your friend getting money back, if Polyphemus let no one win, his trade would stop. The question is, not whether one foolish lad had _won_ by him, but whether five-and-twenty foolish lads did not _lose_ by him. He has his book to make, as well as you, and he wants your money to pay his own debts with if he loses. He has his bread to earn, and he wants your money to earn it with; and as for sending him money, you may as well throw a sovereign down a coal-pit and expect it to come up again with a ton of coals on its back.”

A simple and effective way of exposing the folly of betting on horses is to take some leading sporting papers for a week and to put an imaginary pound upon each of the selected winners, and then count the losses and gains at the end of a week. The result of such an operation was sent to the _Daily News_ some time ago, and is given below.

The predicted winners were by “Augur” of the _Sporting Life_ and “Vigilant” of the _Sportsman_, who are recognised authorities in racing circles. An imaginary pound was put on each race. In the case where two selections were made, 10s. was put on each.

SUMMARY OF WEEK

_Sporting Life._ _Sportsman._ Loss £12 10 11 £16 1 10 Gain 1 13 9 6 14 6 ---------- ---------- Loss £10 17 2 £9 7 4

It is indeed astonishing how far men will go on the chance of a run of luck when the probabilities are that they will lose. At Monte Carlo there are eight gambling-tables, each of which averages a profit of £500 daily from the public, yet players are always to be found.

Whilst the direct combating of gambling practices is important, it must never be forgotten that betting and gambling are symptoms of a social disease, and to get rid of the symptoms the disease itself must be attacked. In this connection anything done on right lines to make life less monotonous for the working classes, to improve the conditions of employment, and to secure adequate wages will tend to diminish the evil in question.

Take the _monotony of life_, whether amongst rich or poor. In so far as betting and gambling are indulged in because of this, the efforts of the reformer must be directed towards its removal. Perhaps the most desirable way of accomplishing it is to get men interested in some great religious, political, or social movement. Life ceases to be aimless even for the wealthy man as soon as he begins to work in a great cause. We have, fortunately, many instances of those whose every material want is ready to their hands without any personal effort, and yet whose lives are in the highest degree useful to the community owing to their efforts in various social or political movements. People such as these have probably no temptation to bet, their time and attention being occupied with that which is vastly more interesting and satisfies more completely the craving for fulness of life. The same thing applies to the workman who seeks to break the monotony of his life by betting. Once get that man really interested in political, social, or religious work, and it will usually be found that the desire to bet will go, because, as in the ease of his wealthier brother, his mind is filled with things which interest him more. Social workers have no time to bet. And as almost all social movements are suffering for want of workers, we shall be doing a double good if, while meeting this want, we can at the same time be helping some one to overcome a great temptation. It is not possible, of course, to interest every one in movements such as those indicated, but this is only the stronger reason for endeavouring to get the life of the community so organised that every one has the opportunity placed within his reach of introducing into his life interests suited to his tastes. If this, however, is to be done, much more attention must be given to the matter than has been the case hitherto. Consider, for example, the lamentable absence of counter-attractions to those offered by the publicans. Temperance reformers are now realising that no scheme of reform is likely to be permanently successful which will not provide such counter-attractions upon a scale far beyond anything existing at present. Much the same conditions attach to the repression of gambling. What is bad needs replacing by what is innocent. Fortunately, the solutions of the two questions are complementary, and counter-attractions provided against either temptation will be equally helpful against the other. The lectures and religious meetings constantly held in our towns appeal, unfortunately, to but a small section of the community. We want more social clubs; we want free concerts, elevating although popular in character; we want places where young men and women can meet socially, apart from the public-houses, and yet where they have full liberty to enjoy themselves without licence. We want, indeed, in every town people’s palaces, where people can be thoroughly at home, and where they can spend a social evening pleasantly and rationally.[13]

On similar lines the provision of an adequate number of allotments in the neighbourhood of towns would undoubtedly do much towards reducing the betting evil. Experience shows that the proportion of working men who would find in gardening an absorbing interest is very considerable, yet in most towns the supply of allotments is entirely inadequate. Considered either as counter-attractions to the public-house and the bookmaker, or as a benefit to the cultivators in point both of profit and of health, there is no doubt that it would amply repay municipalities to provide allotments far more liberally than is done at present.

It is clear, then, that the provision of better housing for the working classes would tend to decrease the betting evil. Men who have a house of which they are proud and a garden to cultivate, in which they may keep poultry, rabbits, or pigeons, are much less likely to indulge in betting than the inhabitants of an overcrowded town district, with small means of spending their leisure. Nor will villages produced by the decentralising of the towns suffer from the monotony of life that at present afflicts many agricultural districts. Rapid transit will enable them to share in the interests of the life of the adjacent towns.

The connection between the housing problem and the betting evil well illustrates our position that betting is, to a large extent, a symptom of a social disease, and that if we would be successful in eradicating the symptom, we must seek to remedy the disease. The provision of a more adequate education for the children of the poor would tend in this direction. By teaching the children to read we make it easy for them to follow the betting news in the newspapers and to keep their betting-books, yet we take them from school before the thirst for knowledge has really been awakened. Better education is especially needed in the case of girls, who will be the mothers of the future. If their mental horizon is limited, they cannot awaken in their children interest in those various branches of knowledge which provide, in the case of those who are better educated, the mental landscape which enriches their lives. All such movements, therefore, as the Home Reading Union, or anything which tends to the better education of the people, will tend at the same time to decrease the monotony of life, and lessen the temptation to resort to demoralising excitements.

There can be little doubt also that much of the monotony of life on which we have been dwelling is due to the low wages paid to unskilled labourers. The writer is convinced that upon the average the wages paid in towns to such are insufficient for the maintenance of a man and a moderate family in a state of merely physical efficiency, to say nothing of any margin for developing the higher sides of their natures. It would be out of place here to enter into detail on the subject of wages, but the question has so vital a bearing upon the betting evil that it cannot be altogether omitted. The nation should not be satisfied until the wages of unskilled labour are such as will provide the necessaries of physical efficiency for a family of moderate size, and, in addition, sufficient margin to enable the members of a labourer’s family to provide what is required for the development of the higher sides of their natures. At the present time, as stated above, the average wages paid to unskilled labourers in towns are insufficient for this purpose. So long as this continues we cannot be surprised if large numbers of working men live with the better sides of their natures undeveloped, and thus fall an easy prey to the publican and bookmaker.

Increased wages, however, as we well know, will not by themselves achieve the desired results. They must be accompanied by influences which will help men to spend them wisely. In this connection it would be difficult to lay too much stress on the responsibility which rests upon all employers of labour to see that the tone in their shops, factories, or offices is a good one. We scarcely realise how great is the power for good possessed in this respect by an employer. We know that, when the selection has to be made of a school for a child, the consideration of the tone in the school is, in the case of all careful parents, regarded as paramount, and no careful parent will knowingly send a child to a school in which the tone is known to be bad. The tone in factories and shops is an equally important factor in moulding the characters of those employed in them. Probably much more beneficial influence upon the character of the working classes may be exercised through the medium of their places of employment than is at present exercised through the churches. How few working people attend church or chapel for even one hour in a week, yet perhaps for fifty hours every week they are under such influences as are exerted in their factories or workshops. If those influences are thoroughly good: if in the appointment of overlookers not only proficiency in work or power of control is considered, but also the moral influence which they will exert upon those working under them; if only such foremen are appointed as will encourage all that tends to elevate the employees, and discourage drinking, gambling, and all that tends to degrade, the good that may be done is incalculable. To the present writer it appears that there is no way of producing among the working classes a sound public opinion on such a question as the one we are considering, more immediately effective than through the appointment of men of high character to positions of responsibility in factories, offices, and shops. If any of us who are seeking to combat the gambling evil could impress this single fact upon one large employer of labour, we should probably be sowing seeds from which we might expect to reap a very abundant harvest.

Whilst the influence of the employer and of his foremen is of widest importance, we should not underestimate that of even one ordinary workman, inasmuch as those who work alongside him are likely to be even more influenced by his actions and opinions than by those of men in higher position.

In conclusion, the writer may state his belief that the solution of the gambling evil, as of many other social evils, will never be permanently effected without a great deepening of the moral and spiritual life of the nation. Our churches do well to bear in mind that they are not ends, but merely means to an end. Nay, that religion itself exists for the production of men and women of high moral character, strong to resist temptation, strong in their desire after the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We want, in our churches, to develop persons with a vigorous faith, who fully realise the social as well as the spiritual character of this Kingdom. To this end let us keep the spiritual flame burning. For a vital, religious faith—the faith that worketh by love—is at the root of all true and permanent social reform.

APPENDICES

I

LORDS’ RECOMMENDATIONS

The Select Committee appointed to inquire into the increase of public betting amongst all classes, and whether any legislative measures were possible and expedient for checking the abuses occasioned thereby, reported as follows in June 1902:—

1. After hearing much evidence, the Committee are of opinion that betting is generally prevalent in the United Kingdom, and that the practice of betting has increased considerably of late years especially amongst the working classes, whilst, on the other hand, the habit of making large bets, which used at one time to be the fashion amongst owners and breeders of horses, has greatly diminished. Betting is not confined to horse-racing, but is also prevalent at athletic meetings and football matches.

2. Various suggestions have been made to the Committee in explanation of the alleged spread of betting. It has been urged that the increase in the practice is only proportional to the growth and increased prosperity of the industrial population of the country, and that the operation of the Betting Houses Act, by driving bookmakers into the streets, has brought their business more to the notice of Magistrates.

3. The Committee are, however, of the opinion that even when due allowance has been made, both for the increase in the population of towns, and the rise in wages, betting is undoubtedly more widespread and general than it used to be.

4. Although the Committee do not look upon betting as a crime in itself, they yet deplore the spread of a practice which, when carried to excess, they consider opposed to the true interests of sport, injurious to the general community, and apt to degenerate into one of the worst and most mischievous forms of gambling.

5. The Committee consider that the increased prevalence of betting throughout the country is largely due to the great facilities afforded by the press, and to the inducements to bet offered by means of bookmakers’ circulars and tipsters’ advertisements.

6. In support of this opinion, the Committee point to the great increase of newspapers devoted entirely to sporting matters, and to the publication of articles upon racing news, and of sporting tips or prophecies.

7. 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, and several witnesses have urged that the practice should be forbidden by law. Others, however, have expressed their conviction that the chief results of such prohibition would be to facilitate and encourage dishonesty among bookmakers.

8. The Committee, having given careful attention to both of these divergent views, are not prepared to recommend the prohibition.

9. The Committee cannot condemn too strongly the advertisements of sporting tipsters and others which appear in the columns of many newspapers. The Committee believe that such advertisements are a direct inducement to bet, and that much of the news which they profess to give could only have been obtained by inciting persons employed in racing stables to divulge secrets. The Committee are therefore of the opinion that all such advertisements are highly objectionable.

10. The Committee would point out that in France advertisements of this character are forbidden by law, and several witnesses have urged that repressive legislation on the same lines should be introduced into this country. The Committee are of opinion that all such advertisements, as also betting circulars and notices, should be made illegal.

11. The Committee are convinced that it is impossible altogether to suppress betting, but they believe that the best method of reducing the practice is to localise it as far as possible on race-courses and other places where sport is carried on.

12. Four different means have been suggested of effecting this object:—

(1) The licensing of bookmakers.

(2) The establishment of the system of betting known as the “Pari Mutuel” or “Totalisator.”

(3) More effectual methods for stopping betting in the streets.

(4) To make it illegal for a bookmaker to bet in any place of public resort except at the place on which the sport is being carried on, and there only in an enclosed space under the control of managers who should be held strictly responsible for the maintenance of order.

13. The plan of giving licences to bookmakers has been adopted in some of the Australian Colonies, and, if it were introduced into this country, it might possibly diminish street betting, and also do much to check fraud and dishonesty both on the part of the bookmaker and of the backer.

14. But the establishment of such a system in this country is open to serious objections. In Australia, as the number of bookmakers is comparatively few, it is possible for the racing clubs, which grant the licences, to exercise a strict supervision and control. In this country, where the number of bookmakers is so much greater, it would be practically impossible for the Jockey Club to undertake the duty of licensing, and, if the work were undertaken by the State, it would mean the legal recognition of the bookmaker and necessitate the making of betting debts recoverable by law.

15. The Committee after mature consideration do not think it would be desirable to legalise betting in this manner, and are also of the opinion that the establishment of such a system would rather increase than lessen the amount of betting prevalent at the present day.

16. The latter objection can also, of course, be brought with equal truth against the “Pari Mutuel,” as the absolute fairness of the “Totalisator” system of betting is a protection to the small bettor, who might otherwise not care to risk his money with a bookmaker.

17. In some of the Australian Colonies, in India, and in France this system has been adopted, and is said to work satisfactorily. In France the money invested annually in this way amounts to between six and seven millions sterling. Two per cent of this sum is given to public charities, and one per cent goes to the Minister of Agriculture and is devoted to the encouragement of horse-breeding and to other similar purposes. The Committee, however, fear that the evil of adopting this system would by its encouragement of the gambling instinct far outweigh any gain that might accrue, and therefore cannot recommend it.

18. It has been proved conclusively to the Committee that the practice of betting in the streets has increased very much of late years, and is the cause of most of the evils arising from betting among the working classes.

The fact that bookmakers can ply their trade in the open street, and lie in wait to catch working men in their dinner hour outside factories and workshops in order to induce them to bet, is undoubtedly a great source of evil.

19. Evidence has also been brought before the Committee to show that street bookmakers bet not only with men, but also with women and children.

20. At the present time such offences can only be dealt with as “obstruction” under various local Acts, or under particular bye-laws in each town, the penalty in either case and the powers of the police being inadequate to check the practice.

21. When a street bookmaker is convicted 25 times in four years and is able to pay £137:8s. in fines and costs (to take a typical example of many cases which have been brought to the notice of the Committee), it is obvious that the profits of his calling must be very great, and that the penalties provided by the law to restrain his trade are not sufficiently strong.

22. The Committee, therefore, recommend that, in view of the acknowledged evils of this form of betting, there should be further legislation, enabling Magistrates to send bookmakers to prison without the option of a fine for the first offence, who have been convicted of betting in the streets with boys or girls, or otherwise inducing them to bet.

The Committee further recommend that bookmakers convicted of betting in the streets should be liable to a fine of £10 for the first offence, £20 for the second offence, and that for any subsequent offence it should be within the discretion of the Magistrate either to impose a fine of not more than £50 or to send the bookmaker to prison without the option of a fine. The Committee also recommend that the police should be given the same power of summary arrest which they possess in cases of obstruction of the highway.

23. The Committee recommend that the following amendments should be made in the Betting Houses Act of 1853:—

(i.) That in view of the uncertainty which has arisen since the decision of the Kempton Park case as to what constitutes a “place” within the meaning of the Act, further legislation should make it quite clear that bookmakers are prohibited from carrying on their business in public-houses or in any public place.

(ii.) That the meaning of “resorting thereto,” that is, to a betting-house, in Section 1 should be extended so as to include persons making bets by correspondence or through an agent.

(iii.) That, if thought necessary, having regard to recent decisions, it should be made clear that it is an offence under Section 1 for persons to use an office in the United Kingdom for obtaining the receipt of money elsewhere, whether within or without the United Kingdom, or for the proprietor of the office to permit such user.

(iv.) That Section 7 should be extended so as to include the advertisement in this country of any betting-house within the meaning of the Act which is kept abroad.

24. The Committee further recommend that the Betting Act of 1874 should be extended to the advertising of information or advice to be obtained from any person or at any place, though it may not come within the description of a betting-house within Section 1 of the Act of 1853, and whether within or without the United Kingdom.

25. The Committee recommend that the Betting and Loans (Infants) Act 1892 (Lord Herschell’s Act) should be extended to ready-money betting with infants, that is to say, the receipt of money from an infant as consideration for a bet to be made with such infant.

26. The Committee recommend that on any race-course bookmakers should only be allowed to carry on their business within definite rings and enclosures.

27. Various witnesses have given evidence as to the prevalence of betting at athletic meetings, and to the difficulty which owners of athletic grounds have in preventing a practice which they with justice consider opposed to the best interests of amateur sport.