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All the elements of gambling to excess, excepting the authority of law, now exist within the Colony. This one restriction is the safety valve which prevents evil results to the Community. Once elevate gambling by giving it the stamp of authority, and the reins by which the Government hold sufficient, but not a severe check upon this passion of the people, are broken.
The enormous plunder which would be obtained by the holder of the monopoly and his licensed subordinates, it is almost impossible to calculate; it can only partially be imagined from the large sum proffered on the privilege.
The natural question thrusts itself forward. From whom would this plunder be obtained? The answer to which must be, from the servants of Europeans, the shopman of the trader, the intending emigrant - who perhaps has sold his inheritance, or his property to raise a certain amount for his passage - and the small trader, who struggling with difficulties needs but little temptation to make a hazard for fortune, and facing is inextricably ruined.
There cannot be a doubt, that under a system of licensed gambling, not only would that vice be increased tenfold, but there would be a great increase of crime.