_(e) Press Competitions and Coupon Gambling._—This is a most serious branch of the evil, for which the press is very largely responsible. Its grossest manifestation occurred some years ago in connection with horse-racing and football playing. Unfortunately, some years prior to this, in 1895, a judgment in _Stoddart_ v. _Sagar_, the scope of which was mistaken by the public authorities, was held to rule the pernicious system outside of both the Lottery Acts and of the Betting House Act of 1853, and the question was neglected, with the consequence that the system grew to such an extent that in the year 1900 it was brought prominently before the council of the National Anti-Gambling League. Upon investigation they found, amongst other flagrant instances, the case of an obscure so-called sporting paper, the circulation of which had been raised by means of these coupons to 100,000 a week. At the trial of the proprietor, evidence was given on behalf of the General Post Office that the letters with remittances were so numerous as to necessitate a special delivery amounting to 20 sacks weekly. By evidence given by the London and Westminster Bank it was shown that £63,680 was paid in to the account of these valued customers in the first six months of 1900; and the prizes paid away to successful gambling competitors had risen from over £10,000 in 1897 to over £27,000 in 1898; over £47,000 in 1899; and to September only of 1900, to £46,000. It was not merely a penny or a shilling gamble, as any number of penny lines could be filled in in the coupon, and any number of coupons could be used by the same person, special directions being published in the paper to save those competitors trouble who were dealing in a large number, so that hundreds of pounds could be arranged for in a few minutes, and cheques remitted. The receipts of this one establishment in postal orders, etc., were shown to amount to £2000 to £3000 a week. The prize for the Lincoln Handicap of 1900 was £3000. The Courts unanimously decided that these coupon schemes came within the scope of the Betting House Act of 1853. This was confirmed in later cases in the King’s Bench Division and Appeal Court, and the judgments incidentally comprised the most valuable decision, _that deposits to betting-houses were none the less such if received indirectly, and not at the premises_. One loophole was left. The 1853 Act may not apply to betting-houses abroad. The proprietors moved their offices across the Channel, continuing their advertisements in the low sporting papers, and these were even admitted to otherwise respectable prints, tempted presumably by the higher rates shown in Court to be paid for this class of advertisement. An attempt was subsequently made in prosecuting _The Sportsman_ to put a stop to this, but the King’s Bench Division held that section 7 of the 1853 Act relating to advertising could not be considered to cover these advertisements, although the judges expressed