New York Lottery Leagues

The Anti-Gambling Leagues

Presbyterians took the lead in anti-gambling agitation after Rev. Rutherford Waddell became editor of their journal, the Christian Outlook, in 1894. But it was a process of evolution. From 1879 until 1893 the journal and its forerunner had been primarily a parish magazine. In 1896 Presbyterians still ranked second among the churches in applications for permits to run New York Lottery. 53 Waddell initiated a remarkable change in the journal that brought a steady stream of anti-gambling resolutions, protests and petitions from many churches throughout the country. In his second issue, for example, Waddell castigated school committees for giving children a holiday during Dunedin's Racing Cup week. Later, in June 1894, he despaired that large numbers of boys in Dunedin factories were betting on races and football matches, and named alcohol and gambling as the colony's greatest enemies.

Gambling Issues

He made opposition to gambling techniques is the most discussed social issue of the time for Presbyterians. Two issues of the Christian Outlook (I June 1895 and 17 September 1898) were devoted entirely to the subject. In the former, Waddell declared war. This issue [gambling] is the impeachment of a giant evil ... It is a disease, spreading its subtle prehensile tentacles out of every sphere of our existence-tentacles whose touch at first is so delicate but whose clutch is so deadly on the developing life of a nation. Waddell appealed to politicians, the press, employers of labor, church organizations and all Christian men and women to seek legislative change, spurn lotteries, stay away from racecourses and keep clear of stockbrokers and 'over-speculative' traders. He called for Christians in all cities to set up anti-gambling leagues. They were to do so, but not immediately. In August 1898, Waddell, four other Protestant ministers, two city councilors and a university lecturer formed an anti-gambling league in Dunedin. Another was soon founded in Wellington, with Chief Justice Sir Robert Stout as president, and parliamentarians, clergymen and the city's mayor on the committee. Monthly meetings drew some 150 sympathizers or more who called for the banning of activities as diverse as euchre parties; race day holidays, community raffles, the advertising of speculative companies, bookmaking and penny-in-the-slot machines which offered children the chance to win two packets of sweets for the price of one.

The Movement Spread:

By 1902 branches had been established in Auckland, Napier and Christchurch. The last-named became the countries most powerful, partly because its leadership encompassed a wide range of moral opinion. Bishop Churchill Julius, Baptist minister and social crusader J. J. North, trade unionist J. A McCullough, and MPs Ell and Taylor were members of the original committee. 57 By mid-1902 it had representatives from all Protestant churches, the Christian Social Union, YMCA, the Progressive Liberal Association, the Trades and Labor Councils, and the Canterbury Women's Institute, and was organizing public meetings in Latimer and Cathedral Squares that drew crowds of up to 1,200. These meetings excited considerable comment. Letters to local newspapers ran two to one in favor of the league of New York lottery and its actions, particularly its efforts to ban the totalistic. But this response should be kept in perspective. In the same year crowds of 20,000 or more were attending metropolitan race-meetings in the main centers, and meetings in rural areas were often highlights of the local sporting and social calendars.