Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-05-13
THE REVIVAL OF BETTING
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

It is true that very substantial sums
flow back in the form OF rich prizes
won, but as persons more or less all
over the world buy lottery tickets,
only share returns to England. A
good deal comes to the United States,
to Canada, to Australia and TO other
countries.
The attitude taken by the Royal
Commission which has been studying
the betting business is that 1t Is i'm
possible to legislate the human desire
to gamble out Of existence. So it has
sought to liberalize betting laws and
reduce so far as possible organized ex-
ploitation of the gambling instinct by
profiteers. OF all Nordic people the
British probably bet more than any
others. There has always been a great
deal Of betting, legal or illegal. The
Royal Commissions plan, therefore,
takes the line that professionals, gam
bling exploiters, should be duly au-
thorized to conduct their businesses
but should be limited. England uses
for both horse and dog race betting
device called a totalisator or, more
familiarity. the tote. 1t Is the COM
missions proposal that the profits
which may be legally collected by
operators Of totes shall be limited to
only per cent. 1t is a bookmaking
device and can be set to leave any
amount desired in the hands Of the
operator. A 3 per cent limit would
permit Of collection of suficient oper-
ating expenses in the opinion of the
commission, and would turn back to
the public nearly all they put in. OF
course, there would be a considerable
difference in the distribution. But, at
least, most of the money would go back
into the public's pockets rather than
into the pockets of the exploiters.
Sport of Common Folks.
Englishmen have always been loyal
followers of the sport of Kings, but,
after all, race meetings are not held
very often. The great events like the
Derby, the Grand National. the Ascot,
and so on are annual affairs. But,
beginning just few years ago, there
arose a new commercialiZed sport
dog racing. OF course, there is dog
racing in the United States, too. but
not nearly to the extent 1t exists in
England. But, in contrast with the
horse races, dog races are conduced
every day. Every city has one or more
tracks. 1t is on these dog races that
the totes do most of their business.
The Royal Commission pointed out
In its study that people betting on
horses usually went to the track and
witnessed the running. To be sure,
many thousands bet on every race
away from the track, but more bet
tiers go to horse races than to dog
races. Every day Of the year work.
men in relatively poor circumstances
who would not feel they could afford
the admission price to attend a race
meeting, manage to scrape up a few
shiulngs. or even a few pence, and
bet through the tote on dog races.
Every day a steady stream comes out
OF the pockets Of the British public
for gambling on dog races. The com.
mission took cognizance of the fact
that. while the racing of horses is
called the sport Of Kings, the racing
Of dogs is the sport of common men.
Therefore, there was no desire to dis
criminate against poor men by making
dog-racing totes illegal, but there was
the recommendation that racing be
limited to about 100 days in each
wear,