is illegal to bet in a house or street, it should be just as
illegal to bet at a race meeting or elsewhere. Such a simple
alteration of the law would at once sweep away much of the
human filth, and be of inestimable benefit to the honourable
bookmaker proper. There is no mistake about it; it must be done
if the present awful state of affairs is to be done away with.
2. Betting you will never stop; but it can be controlled for the benefit
of the community at large, and so you must license the bookmaker. In so
doing you must not give a license to any one who thinks fit to apply
for one—such as an auctioneer gets his license, or a person keeping a
horse or dog gets his. No! no! no! The licensed bookmaker must be a
highly respectable man—never been in trouble; and he should be required
to deposit in Somerset House or some other Government place a sum of
money—say £500 or £1000—to prove his responsibility, which should
be attachable for any proved unpaid claim against him. The licensed
bookmaker should then be permitted to make bets on the race-course only.
His license should be subject to revocation for misconduct.
3. All bets should be in writing, or rather tickets should be given
similar to a pawnbroker’s way of doing business, and amounts due to
either party should be recoverable at law.
NOTE.—The suggestions 2 and 3 would, I believe, positively
abolish welshing: would be welcomed by all honourable
sportsmen, and, above all, would positively purify the various
race-courses, and put a permanent stop to the hundred and one
forms of abused and nefarious betting which now are rampant
throughout the land.
4. A law should be made abolishing clubs, or offices, or houses kept
by starting-price bookmakers; and it should be illegal to carry on a
betting business either personally, by letter, or by telegram, except on
a race-course by a duly licensed bookmaker.
NOTE.—My brother bookies will open their eyes in abject
astonishment at this suggestion, and all kinds of awful
anathemas will be heaped upon my poor old anonymous noddle,
quite unnecessarily and too soon, for they would soon see that
such a step would be to their benefit. Again, be it observed,
that unless betting is to be absolutely abolished altogether,
the small sportsman, with the harpy, the welshers, and the
villains, must be got rid of to make betting a respectable
business, and to rid it for ever of the fearful and deserved
disrepute that now surrounds it. Well, do away with the
stay-at-home S.P. bookmaker, and there is the remedy! All good
S.P. men can as well carry on their business at a race meeting
as at home; and if they cannot—well, turn it up! Starting-price
bookies are the great sinners with the small backer; it is
with them that the workman, the clerk, the shopman, the small
tradesman—to sum up, the impecunious backer, all go or do
business with, and it is principally and mainly with them that
the betting is done; it is they who foster small betting, and
thus indirectly are the cause of nearly all the disrepute
which hangs around betting revealed from time to time in the
police courts and in other ways. Abolish the stay-at-home S.P.
bookmaker, with clubs, his offices and houses, and the very
greatest blessing will at once be conferred upon the bookmakers
generally, and upon the community at large. It is positively
astounding to think of the thousands of S.P. bookmakers—large
and small—mostly small, miserable, moneyless beings, scattered
all over the country everywhere; these are the men who do the
business with the men and persons who have not the means to and
certainly have no right to bet. Do away with this business, and
the atmosphere will be enormously cleared.
5. Now something must be said about the newspapers, for they are
very great sinners in encouraging small betting. I am, however, more
particularly concerned about the small backer, the ruin he brings upon
himself and those connected with him, and the discredit he brings also
upon the legitimate betting business. The man who can attend the various
race meetings, and there can see for himself what is going on, the
number of the horses running in a race, the jockeys riding, and knows
the odds for and against, is, of course, in a far better position than
the stay-at-home backers, or in other words the “small sportsmen” who
have neither the means nor the knowledge to bet on horse-racing, and
simply do so almost in the dark, on mere chance, or mere newspaper tips,
naps, and advice written the day before the race. The morning halfpenny
papers, of course, get much of their information from the large daily
papers. “Morning betting” has been proved to be (as we of course know)
entirely fictitious, and so is much else referring to sporting matters
and supposed ante betting. The small stay-at-home sportsman absolutely
relies on newspaper recommendations, good or bad, to guide him, and so
if the publication of betting prices is prohibited, and also it be made
illegal to give “selections,” and to recommend any horse or horses to
bet upon, the “good thing of the day,” “to back it win and place,” and
the many other ways in which backing horses is publicly and openly and
in many cases suspiciously advised and recommended, is made illegal and
prohibited, such a step would be welcomed by the good bookmaker, would
cut away much nefarious doings, and would confer a lasting benefit on the
small backer in general, although possibly he might not at first see it.
There need not be anything to prevent the usual reports of race meetings,
including the betting thereat, with the starting prices and the usual
reports of horses entered for the various races, with their chances of
winning; that is all right enough, but it is the wanton and mischievous
system of “selections,” “naps,” and recommendations to bet that does the
harm to the small backer, and to racing in general.
Another matter is that “tipsters’” advertisements should be entirely
suppressed. Of course many of the large daily papers refuse them
altogether. Unfortunately, however, they are permitted in other papers.
How any person with a grain of sense can send coin to any of these
advertising tipsters is a marvel to me. Still they flourish on fools’
money. Read through the said advertisements and form your own opinion.
Let any sensible person put it to himself. If these tipsters are so sure,
why don’t they themselves back their predictions, and secure the easy
fortunes they advise others to get?
Turf commission agents’ and Turf accountants’ advertisements should also
seriously be revised. I am, of course, not condemning the well-known
firms doing business under the above designation, but for every safe,
respectable man there are many “wrong uns,” so the only plan seems to
be to seriously revise the advertisements, or reject them altogether.
Besides, every one knows that the descriptions are incorrect. What
is a Turf commission agent? What is a Turf accountant? Generally a
“starting-price bookmaker.” But such descriptions are also used by
suspicious persons having no genuine occupation of the kind, simply to
hide their identity. Thus my suggestion will be, I am sure, welcome to
the _bona fide_ firms.
The Jockey Club do not now settle betting disputes, nor do they openly
countenance “betting.” The races are _supposed_ to be run on the same
lines as athletic sports are conducted, viz. the prizes offered of
themselves are expected to be of sufficient value to induce owners of
horses to compete. Oh, what a big farce! Of course, many of the wealthy
owners keep race-horses solely for the sport and honour of winning races,
and do not care a fig for betting, whilst of course, on the other hand,
a vast number of owners of horses look to betting as the means to recoup
their heavy expenses, and to “win a bit” besides—in many instances
vainly so—for it is admitted all round that owning race-horses is a very
expensive sport, and can only be indulged in by persons having “lots of
coin.” It is, however, quite impossible to disassociate horse-racing from
betting. Stop the betting at race meetings—give prizes only—and what
would be the inevitable result? Why, the race meetings would almost cease
to take place.
Now, to all interested in a business way with racing, viz. the
race-course company, the trainer, the jockey, the bookmaker proper,
the newspaper proprietor, and many others, it must be apparent, that
unless something soon takes place, legally, to “clear the course,”
and to prevent betting by small impecunious backers, that an Act of
Parliament will be passed to stop betting on horse-racing altogether.
Make no mistake, it will assuredly come, unless the small sportsman who
has no means to speculate in betting is got rid of. It is the small
backer who really has caused and is causing all the mischief. It is he
who supports the host of vagabonds and thieves I have referred to, and
so, in conclusion, I sincerely hope and trust that all my respectable
brother bookies will take all I have said in good meaning, and as being
written for the best. Let them unite with me to bring about the reforms
hinted at in this scribble. I have pointed out, I think, clearly to the
small backer that in backing horses he can but lose his money. Let the
thousands of them all over the country seriously consider, with common
sense, the remarks I have made, then I am certain that they will “turn
up the game.” Leave betting to those with money to rashly speculate, and
then the small, petty sportsman will do himself a good turn, and would
very much oblige the legitimate bookmakers, who would then cease to
designate him “The Deluded Sportsman.”
Finally, I am egotistical enough to say that if the alterations and
reforms I have sketched out above are resorted to, that the Turf scandals
which so frequently take place would not and could not arise.
GAMBLING AND CITIZENSHIP
By J. RAMSAY MACDONALD
The devotees of the Goddess of Fortune are found in all societies, from
the Kaffir tribe to the sensuous coteries of our own civilisation. The
moment of uncertainty which lapses between the casting of the dice
and the discovery of the result, between the dealing of the cards and
the examination of the hand, between the starting of the ball and its
settlement in a pocket, is an alluring experience which rules conduct in
proportion to the weakness of the moral character and the disorganisation
of the intellectual life. The unknown must always have a fascination
for men, and that fascination, centred on trivial things and joined
with cupidity, marks the low state of intelligence and morals in which
gambling flourishes.
I
Almost every observer to-day agrees that betting has reached colossal
proportions and is still increasing. At the street corner, in the
newsagent’s and tobacconist’s shop, in the barber’s saloon, in the club,
in the public-house, in the factory, the bookmaker or his agent is ready
to receive the money of men, women, and children, and victims of the
habit are at hand to lead astray the novices still uninitiated in the
worship of the seductive goddess.
The chief characteristic of the present outburst of the gambling habit
is that it is becoming a class disease. People of experience seem to be
pretty much agreed that those living on the marginal line of poverty and
those on the marginal line of respectability are specially liable to fall
victims to the habit. Both of these classes have in common a feeling
that their lives are profoundly unsatisfactory. The dreary drudgery of
the life of a wage-earner who oscillates between 15s. and 25s. a week,
with an occasional turn of nothing at all; the unsatisfied craving in the
life of a man too proud to take his place amongst the working classes but
too poor and despised to be received in professional ranks—can only lead
astray those doomed to them.
To both of these marginal groups the mental excitement and pecuniary
allurements of “trying their luck” are almost irresistible, and, though
they join in nothing else and in every other respect are poles asunder,
they go together to throw their coppers before Fortuna lest haply she may
return them favours an hundredfold.
That, I take it, is the most significant feature of the present spread
of gambling. It is the evidence of social failure showing itself in
the conduct of social groups or classes. It therefore flourishes with
other disquieting symptoms, such as the inordinate love of spectacular
effect, the demand for mere amusement, the distaste for serious and
strenuous effort, the spread of drunkenness—all pointing to a poverty
of personality, a bareness of the inner chambers of the mind, occurring
in such a way as to indicate that we are faced not merely with the
moral breakdown of isolated individuals but with the results of a
serious failure on the part of society. We have to deal not merely with
individual lapses but with a social disease. From that point of view this
paper is written.
Much has been written upon the gambling motive, and I am not sure
that the final word has yet been said upon it. Certainly the simple
explanations of it as a “sin” do not meet the facts of the case. Avarice
does not explain it, because the avaricious do not risk fortunes on the
turn of a wheel or the tip of a stableman. And yet avarice enters into
the gambler’s character. The pleasure of possessing does not explain
it, because if every gambler were to be made as rich as Crœsus he would
gamble the more. I am inclined to believe that the workman gambles
to charm _ennui_ away from his doorstep, and having begun he goes on
partly in the hope that he will recoup himself for his losses, partly to
continue keeping _ennui_ away. Roughly, the same motives influence the
other gambling class—the clerks and the other wage receivers who would
fain believe that they are paid “salaries.”[2]
But the particular character of the disease which is bred by the social
circumstances of these classes is determined by the law of imitation. As
we used to imitate Milan in our millinery and Paris in our dresses, so
for our habits there is a class to which we look. If those habits are
of the nature of luxuries, we borrow and adapt them from the luxurious
classes, and having thus become indebted to these classes we associate
our wellbeing with theirs. A parasitic feeling is engendered, and this
feeling in turn strengthens the original motive which started us upon our
imitative course. Thus we move downwards in a vicious spiral. We must
therefore trace the vigour of the present gambling disease not merely
to the failure of society to satisfy the appetite for _life_ gnawing
unsatisfied at the hearts of whole classes, but to the active existence
elsewhere in the same community of sections of idle rich.
Gambling is a disease which spreads downwards to the industrious poor
from the idle rich. In its most common form, betting on horse-racing, it
is the only way in which the outcast plebeians can be joined with their
betters in a bond of freemasonry. An elevating knowledge of distinguished
jockeys and an exhilarating acquaintance with the pedigree of horses
raise the poor parasite to the level of the rich one and make them both
men and brothers. One has to go to some famous horse-racing event to
appreciate fully the meaning and the force of this.
Consequently, we should expect theoretically to find the gambling habit
amongst the poor break out into chronic virulence at a time when the idle
rich had received some sudden accession in strength, and when they were
blazing forth into a new brilliance of vicious habit. Is not that the
case to-day? Did not the serious spread of gambling downwards coincide
with a renewal of the splendours of our non-productive, luxurious rich?
Within recent years this class has undoubtedly increased in power, and
with that, as has always happened in history, its morals have been
degraded. Those who ought to know tell us that not since the days when
Brooke’s was in its glory and Frederick was waiting with impatient
anxiety for the death of his demented parent, George III., was gambling
so prevalent and personal vice so common in society as it is to-day. I
have heard on most excellent authority of several thousands of pounds
changing hands during an after-dinner game of bridge, at a house which
was not the haunt of prodigals, and amongst people who would be insulted
if they were called gamblers; certain circles of men and women not very
far removed from the centre of political life, who a few years ago spent
their spare energies in investigating the mysteries of theosophy and
dabbling in the weird, have now turned with absorbing interest to the
ubiquitous card game, and guests who do not join in the gamble—often the
swindle—find themselves unprotected by the manners which held a guest as
sacred.[3]
The sudden flood of easily gotten wealth which came mainly as a result
of the exploitation of South Africa, and also partly in consequence
of the financier acquiring control of trade by the development of the
large over-capitalised syndicate, has not only created a new Park Lane,
a _nouveau riche_ and therefore a vulgar one, but has brought in its
train a low personal and social morality, and has created in our society
purple patches of decadence which can be placed alongside the rotting
luxuriance of the Roman Empire. It was so in France when Law’s financial
schemes set everybody dreaming of an age of gold and paper money; it was
so with ourselves when the South Sea Bubble was being blown up; it will
always be so under like circumstances. The influence spreads from one end
of society to the other. It colours our newspapers. The tinsel spectacle
excites the imagination of the common man or woman. Our charities and
philanthropies hang upon the trains of luxurious vulgarity.[4] In a
subtle way the grossness at the top percolates through to the bottom,
and the plebeian in his own special heavy-footed style dances to the
same sensuous tune to which the feet of his betters are more daintily
tripping. From the vicious social conditions at the top the gambling
impulse finds its way to the bottom. Imitation of the upper classes, even
in the most democratic of societies,—and ours is far from that,—continues
to have an important influence in the life of the people. Such is the
origin of the disease. We must now consider some of its effects.
II
If gambling comes from a poisoned source, it poisons the life with
which it is in touch. Other writers in this volume are dealing with the
personal and family disasters for which it is responsible. I confine
my attention to its influence upon citizenship, upon the persons upon
whose intelligence and character rests the fabric of the State and the
community.
The gambling disease is marked by a moral and intellectual unsettlement,
by an impatience with the slow processes of legitimate accumulation, by
a revolt against the discipline of steady growth and sustained action.
The gambler lives in a state of unnatural strain. Like an insane person,
he stands on the threshold of a grandiose world the high lights of
which throw the sober realities of the real into shadow. Moreover, his
vice develops the self-regarding instincts into hideous and criminal
proportions. What is all this but saying that it cuts away the roots of
good citizenship. For good citizenship depends upon a moral discipline
which enables a man to pursue, undisturbed by outward event, calm amidst
storms of fortune, some desirable social end; it is dependent upon the
development of the social conscience in the individual; it flourishes
only when men seek after the more solid gains which come from honest work
and faithful endeavour. The people to whom the gains of life are but
the prize-winnings of a game of hazard, who flock to spectacles, whose
sports consist of looking on whilst professionals display their prowess,
are but decaying props of State.
Individualists would make us believe that citizenship is not part of
personality, for otherwise their antithesis of man _versus_ the State
would be inconceivable. But the antithesis is purely verbal, and does
not in reality exist. Man’s personality is complex, but it is a unit;
his public and private actions may be many sided, and for a time may
spring from opposing moral sources, but in the end their exercise blends
the opposing sources and changes the individuality. For instance, no
people can rule itself democratically at home and govern other peoples
autocratically abroad. The home democracy in time becomes tainted. The
moral sources of one system become blended with the polluted sources of
the other. And so it is with the character of the man and the citizen.
The citizen cannot act contrary to the man.
One need hardly trouble to appeal to history to prove these statements.
A parallel between our present state of society, rotting with luxury and
intoxicated with excitement, and the Roman Empire in the days of its
decline is on every moralist’s lips and is becoming hackneyed. Philip
of Macedon, it is said, encouraged gambling amongst the Greeks, on the
ground that it corrupted their minds and made them docile under his
rule. From time to time in our own country the gambling mania has become
chronic, the last of these outbursts being about a century ago, when
Brooke’s and White’s stripped their foolish victims, and when the flick
of cards was heard throughout the abodes of fashion. Of that time Sir
George Trevelyan writes:—
The political world, then as always, was no better than the
individuals who composed it. Private vices were reflected in
the conduct of public affairs; and the English people suffered,
and suffers still, because, at a great crisis in our history, a
large proportion among our rulers and councillors had been too
dissolute and prodigal to be able to afford a conscience.[5]
The gamblers were in power. There was plenty of party but little
politics, and what politics there was was largely an art of recouping
gaming losses from the public purse. Public life was saved only by the
political overthrow of the gambling aristocracy. Fox, possessing though
he did a genius which could throw off the taint of his circumstances,
failed mainly owing to his lack of steadiness, dignity, prudence, and
industry,[6] and these were precisely the deficiencies which his gambling
habits would accentuate. They are the moral and intellectual results of
gambling, and follow it as inevitably as gout follows wine-bibbing.
Those of us who fail to see any road leading to a desirable state of
society save the political one, those who still believe that democracy
is the only form of government under which men can enjoy the blessings
of full citizenship, those who consider that in spite of the likes or
dislikes of ruling classes government tends to depend more and more
upon the sanction of the common people and thus becomes an ever more
accurate reflection of their character, can view only with alarm the
rapid spread of gambling habits amongst the masses. Where these habits
prevail the newspaper, which should be the guide of the citizen, is read
not for its politics but for its tips, for the racing news printed in
the “fudge,” not for the subjects it discusses in its leader columns,
and so is degraded to being the organ of the bookmaker. This does not
merely mean an extension of its sporting columns, but a revolution in its
tone and its staff, in response to what really becomes a revolution in
its functions. Men who are too weary to think, too overworked to attend
political meetings or take positions of responsibility in their trade
unions, can nevertheless speak authoritatively about the pedigree of an
obscure horse and the record of a second-rate footballer.