17 NOVEMBER 1944, Page 13

Sta,—You welcome, rightly, the Football Association's recommendation that Football Pools

should be prohibited, and you observe that firms on commission " incite citizens to squander their money." To pass an Act prohibiting these pools would be difficult and is, moreover, unnecessary. All that is needed is a clause in the Finance Bill imposing a licence duty .on the promoters, and a tax on the gross takings. Thus you strike at the profits, probably very large ; and if you make a business unprofitable, it will disappear. The same plan might be applied to the owners of fun fairs, and, if the Chancellor were bold enough, the