Parasites and Pools
No one will or can dissent from the view expressed by the Churches' Committee on Gambling in a report issued this week that the employment of 300,000 to 400,000 people in the gambling industry at a time of acute man-power shortage is a scandal of the first order. It is well to focus attention on this aspect of the question rather than on the immense sums of money irresponsibly squandered every week, for when money is so plentiful and the outlets for it so limited squandering may be considered inevitable—though of course it ought not to be. But the question of how to divert football-pool employees from anti-social to productive employment is very diffi- cult to answer, and the Churches' report gives little help in that direction. It is easy, but unconvincing, to say that the Government could achieve what is desired " by discouraging all gambling practices and by creating a healthy public opinion against organisers of mass gambling movements and exploiters of human weakness." But by what means is the Government, which has failed conspicuously to apply publicity methods effectively to drive the lessons of the National Economic Survey home to the individual, to do anything of the kind? It is said that from 15,000,000 to 20,000,000 circulars and coupons are posted or received by football firms weekly. That paper should be made available for such a _purpose at such a time is deplorable, but football-pools are as legal as the printing of Hansard, and
manipulation of the paper-ration might as easily be made the instru- ment of undesirable as of desirable discrimination. This does not mean necessarily that nothing can be done about the vice of gambling. The immediate hope is some voluntary agreement. Mr. Isaacs seems to have gone some way to achieving that. If he succeeds, he will have done a good piece of work.,
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