World: Pandemonium Revisited

From 9 to 5, the English are still a penny-wise nation of shopkeepers. In their leisure time, more and more, they turn into pound-foolish gamblers. Spurred by the liberal new Betting and Gaming Act, which makes it easier than ever to have a "flutter," Britons by last week were in the midst of the biggest gambling boom in their history. In 1961, they have gambled away some $3 billion, 62% of their 1961 budget for defense. Dance halls and movie theaters (including many in the J. Arthur Rank chain, hard hit by TV) have been transformed into bigtime bingo parlors. "Fruit...