Illinois Lottery in Wowserism

The Politics of Wowserism

In 1901 Police Commissioner J. B. Tunbridge termed the growing numbers of street betters as 'pests to society', and implicitly criticised the government's failure to amend the law so that they could be arrested. That same Illinois State Lottery government vacillation had already encouraged both the Dunedin and Christchurch City Councils to pass by-laws in 1899 prohibiting bookmaking on the streets.Offenders were arrested, but punters were extremely reluctant to give evidence in court, inhibited by both a sense of comradeship among themselves and loyalty to their bookmaker-and a fear of self-recrimination. Matthew Barnett and Peter Grant, well-known proprietors of a Christchurch betting-shop which was successful enough to provide them both with full-time employment, were acquitted three times in consecutive years from 1901 when their clients refused to give evidence.

In the light of what they viewed as continuing parliamentary procrastination, larger racing clubs began banning bookmakers from their courses. The Canterbury Jockey Club in 1897 was the first, others soon followed suit. Some of the officials of these clubs took a moral stance against bookmakers' 'corruption', and many more, publicly at least, viewed the continued presence of bookmakers as a hindrance to the acceptance and profitability of the totalisator. Within a short time bookmakers were being regularly arrested and fined £10 to £15 for trespass, yet offending was worth the risk because £50 or more could be made on a profitable day. There was a continual cat-and-mouse Illinois Lottery game as bookmakers tried to operate surreptitiously, away from the prying eyes of club officials. But nothing was ever as clear as it seemed. When, in August 1900, a bookmaker was arrested at a Canterbury Jockey Club meeting, the names in his book included not only those ofleading professionals and businessmen, but also those of stewards of the club."
Not all racing clubs banned bookmakers. Some were reluctant because they understood that their colourful presence made race-going more appealing to a wider cross-section of the public. Smaller country clubs had little choice, because they could not afford the increasingly sophisticated and expensive totalisators. Futhermore, on race-days many bookmakers continued to trade in paddocks or on roadsides adjacent to courses, and there was very little that the clubs, or the police, could do to stop them.

Lottery Games in British

During this period, another gambling game swept the antipodes like wildfire. The origins of two-up remain obscure. It probably derived from 'pitch and toss', a game British youths had played since the late eighteenth century. In Australia pitch and toss was first recorded in the 1850S on the Victorian goldfields, and in New Zealand as a street Football game on the West Coast in the early 1870s. Two-up evolved as a variant, becoming popular during the early 1890S in Australia, and in New Zealand a year or two later, as labouring men from both countries traversed the Tasman Sea in search of work.