The nation . d many ofthese winsome jades of logic for thefrauds they are. It pointed out, forexample, that we are often told gam-bling is a human instinct, a basicdrive of man impossible to controlby legislation. Actually, it is no suchthing; it is an acquired habit, andnothing shows this more clearly thanthe manner in which it was stimu-lated and grew in Massachusettsunder the opening wedge of the pari-mutuel system. How often we have been told:There always has and always willbe gambling, and it is no more wrongto bet outside than inside the fenceat a track. But, as the Massachu-setts commis
The nation . d many ofthese winsome jades of logic for thefrauds they are. It pointed out, forexample, that we are often told gam-bling is a human instinct, a basicdrive of man impossible to controlby legislation. Actually, it is no suchthing; it is an acquired habit, andnothing shows this more clearly thanthe manner in which it was stimu-lated and grew in Massachusettsunder the opening wedge of the pari-mutuel system. How often we have been told:There always has and always willbe gambling, and it is no more wrongto bet outside than inside the fenceat a track. But, as the Massachu-setts commission pointed out, opera-tors of race tracks do at least main-tain large and costly plants, theymaintain a payroll, they keep horsesin hay, they provide a service thatdoes offer some valid elements ofpleasure that comes from participat-ing in the excitement and drama ofa race in open air and fine surround-ings. By contrast, the bookie pro-vides nothing; he is a parasite feed-ing on the weakness of others, giv-. 304 ing no useful social service to anv-one, satisfying nothing but his owngreed. As the Massachusetts com-mission said bluntly, There hasnot always been gambling with or-ganized racketeers on a scale whichamounts to a state of lawlessness inan entire society and there neednot be/ Making the Choiee Because the public is hardly everpresented with this picture, the en-tire drive today seems to be towardthe future expansion, the further le-galization of gambling. But theMassachusetts commission, havingexposed the windfall that the under-world has reaped under the stimulusof pari-mutuels, asked not illogicallywhere our society expects to drawthe line. If bookmaking is legalized,how much bookmaking should belegalized? Just the 42 percent thatrepresents horse-race bookmaking?What about the other 58 per centthat comes from baseball, football,basketball and other sports betting?What about dog races? What aboutnumbers? If it becomes legal to makeoff-track bets on the horses, is it
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