The fact that bookmakers can ply their trade in the open street, and lie in wait to catch working men in their dinner hour outside factories and workshops in order to induce them to bet, is undoubtedly a great source of evil.
19. Evidence has also been brought before the Committee to show that street bookmakers bet not only with men, but also with women and children.
20. At the present time such offences can only be dealt with as “obstruction” under various local Acts, or under particular bye-laws in each town, the penalty in either case and the powers of the police being inadequate to check the practice.
21. When a street bookmaker is convicted 25 times in four years and is able to pay £137:8s. in fines and costs (to take a typical example of many cases which have been brought to the notice of the Committee), it is obvious that the profits of his calling must be very great, and that the penalties provided by the law to restrain his trade are not sufficiently strong.
22. The Committee, therefore, recommend that, in view of the acknowledged evils of this form of betting, there should be further legislation, enabling Magistrates to send bookmakers to prison without the option of a fine for the first offence, who have been convicted of betting in the streets with boys or girls, or otherwise inducing them to bet.
The Committee further recommend that bookmakers convicted of betting in the streets should be liable to a fine of £10 for the first offence, £20 for the second offence, and that for any subsequent offence it should be within the discretion of the Magistrate either to impose a fine of not more than £50 or to send the bookmaker to prison without the option of a fine. The Committee also recommend that the police should be given the same power of summary arrest which they possess in cases of obstruction of the highway.
23. The Committee recommend that the following amendments should be made in the Betting Houses Act of 1853:—
(i.) That in view of the uncertainty which has arisen since the decision of the Kempton Park case as to what constitutes a “place” within the meaning of the Act, further legislation should make it quite clear that bookmakers are prohibited from carrying on their business in public-houses or in any public place.
(ii.) That the meaning of “resorting thereto,” that is, to a betting-house, in Section 1 should be extended so as to include persons making bets by correspondence or through an agent.
(iii.) That, if thought necessary, having regard to recent decisions, it should be made clear that it is an offence under Section 1 for persons to use an office in the United Kingdom for obtaining the receipt of money elsewhere, whether within or without the United Kingdom, or for the proprietor of the office to permit such user.