The Betting Bill It is to be hoped there is
no truth in the rumour that the Government is weakening in its attitude to the Betting and Lotteries Bill in consequence of the con- centrated attack on it by certain sectional interests. If ever a Government was in a position to settle once and for all this difficult and admittedly controversial problem it should surely be the present one, which claims to be free from party limitations. Already it has turned its back on the main problem of off-the- course betting, whose anomalies have so long been recognized as a scandal. And now it is suggested that it may yield to pressure in abandoning all that side of the Bill which deals with lotteries. If that were the decision, what would be left ? The dog-track provisions. Is it the case that the adamantine firmness with which the Home Secretary is to meet his critics will be revealed only in a refusal to grant an extension of the 104 days a year when betting is to be permitted on greyhound tracks ? * * a *
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