We have no idea how much readers of the Spectator
will be affected personally or how many of them are ever likely to use the " tote." Not very many we expect. But the Bill has raised piestions of importance. The laws of betting have been chaotic. We sympathize with those who have said that gambling is a vice of which the State should take no cognisance unless it be to stop it. We are more inclined to agree with those who have said that if betting cannot be stopped it should- be controlled and taxed (which is certainly 'a deterrent rather than a stimulus). We advocated the betting tax and have been disappointed by its yield, which has pointed to evasion on a large scale though we could not prove it. The totalisator, having no conscience, will never have a bad one on that score. The bookrnaker is not abolished but will be on his mettle to prove his worth against a machine. We have sympathy with the honest. bookmaker who has fulfilled a want felt by many people, and we admire the power he has developed of extraordinarily quick calculation, but it cannot be-denied that his calling is a parasitic one.
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