INTRODUCTION

Social issues in the United Kingdom are often done with one side or the other claiming to be on the “right side of history”. But their knowledge of history is usually lacking. So the question was: what does history actually teach us about the resolution of social issues? The history of gambling has much to inform us on this.

Let me explain.

1000-1845: THE RICH AND POOR COLLIDE

Throughout the second millennium gambling was divided by class and moderated by religion. Medieval knights and lords gave way to landowners and industrialists, and serfs and peasants gave way to the working classes, with the rules based on the needs of the former. But by the mid-19th century the industrial working class had expanded to a point where they constituted a distinct gambling group and the two collided. Based on a combination of religious fervour, a desire to protect the innocent, and an attempt to distance the two, Parliament started to inhibit common gambling with the Gaming Act (1845).

1846-1874: THE RETREAT TO SCOTLAND

But gambling continued so more acts were required. The Betting Act (1853) and the Gaming Houses Act (1854) enabled the police to define and prosecute common gaming houses, with exemptions in the former allowing the upper class. As common gambling retreated to Scotland, the legislation followed it, with the Prevention of Gaming (Scotland) Act (1869) and the Betting Act (1874) extending English constraints to Scotland, which then retreated to Holland and France.

1874-1906: THE POOR AND RICH COMPETE

A Red Queen race between the rich and the working-class was in effect, with the working-class gambler adapting to the legislation as fast as it was laid down, with local bookmakers taking bets informally via runners and covering themselves with other bookmakers. To combat this the National Anti-Gambling League (NAGL) was formed and the Street Betting Act (1906) made street betting illegal, which was ignored and the betting persisted.

1906-1945: MIDDLE CLASS SUFFICIENCY, POOR PLACEBOS

Society was evolving. The landowner, industrialist and industrial working class were joined by the upcoming professional and managerial classes, and new markets for gambling were opening up, with postal and telephone betting and stock market deals. These markets were a buffer between the liberty of the rich and the inability of the poor, where the new educated middle-classes could gamble using their calculation to profit or at least try.

But these new markets were unaccessible to the poor, most of whom did not have credit nor a telephone nor the ability to travel to racecourses, whether horse or grayhound. The desire of the poor to gamble was therefore slaked with placebos like the totaliser and football pools, where the possibility of leverage with skill was absent or minute. The Betting and Lotteries Act of 1934 allowed small lotteries to take place under certain circumstances and bingo precursors such as Housey-Housey or Tombola were played.

1945-1960: THE SETTLEMENT BREAKS

At this point things began to snap. The WWII generation were less against betting, bookmakers wanted to expand, and the Government wanted to earn tax revenue. Royal Commissions were set up and the Betting and Gaming Act (1960) and Betting and Lotteries Act (Northern Ireland) (1957) legalised the licencing of betting shops throughout the UK. High street betting took off and the working class was allowed to gamble.

THE TRIPARTITE SETTLEMENT AND THE GRAY MARKET

I submit that this history provides a template for how the UK resolves social issues. A three-level structure evolves, thus

• THE RICH. They have full freedom in law which they exploit to the fullest, to the point of stupidity
• THE PROFESSIONAL/MIDDLE CLASSES. They are allowed to get what they can which is adequate to their needs, functioning conservatively but at cost
• THE POOR/WORKING CLASSES. They are allowed nothing or placebos

This settlement stays in place mediated by a gray market, which consists of people working within the law but exploiting loopholes or other geographies. The viability of this gray market dictates the scope and duration of each level, which wax and wane with it.

THE CLEITOPHON CRITERION

This article covers the history of gambling legislation between 1846 and 1960 and meets the @Cleitophon criterion that every article should cover betting

NOTES

This article blurs some details. The geographical scope is not specified other than being in the British Isles, and some of the Acts may refer to the various Parliaments in Ireland instead of Westminster. Historical references to acts are not consistent – is it the Betting Act (1853) or the Betting Houses Act (1853) – and you may know them by other names.

Viewcode

AFTERWORD

This article is in the Ideas series. It displaces the scheduled entry on Solarpunk which will appear at a later date. The next in the Measurement series is on political parties and will happen, honest. Please comment below and your comments will be incorporated into an extended cut at a later date.