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New votes against gambling JCR funds

Arieh Frosh, a second year Fine Art student at New College, presented a motion last Sunday to the JCR asking for a sum of £100-£300 for gambling purposes. The motion stated that Mr Frosh would pay double the amount back by the next meeting in two weeks’ time.

Initially, it was unclear whether the motion was entirely serious. However, when questioned, Mr Frosh was remarkably resolute:

“I can’t say too much about my strategy, but it definitely works. I’m so confident that I only really need around twenty pounds seed money, as then I’ll be able to keep ploughing my earnings back in- but I thought I should probably be on the safe side.”

The motion noted that, “The Michaelmas budget has decreased significantly in the first half of term. Money is good for the JCR.” It is indeed true that New College’s JCR has been low on funds due to a flurry of new sports kit requests.

In light of this, it seems that Mr Frosh’s intention was to raise money not just for himself but for the JCR, stating in the motion that, “giving Arieh some money for controlled gambling purposes would benefit the JCR as it’s [sic] money will be doubled in a short amount of time, which is worth the investment.”

The terms of the motion were:

“To give Arieh £100-£300 for gambling purposes, resulting in £300-£600 returning to the JCR in time for the next meeting. In the unlikely event that the money is lost, Arieh will pay back the loaned sum in monthly instalments over the course of his degree.”

During the short factual questions part of the policy discussion, in reply to whether he was a good gambler, Mr Frosh observed that, “I used to do scratch cards. It’s sort of up and down I suppose, but yes I’m fairly good.”

Moreover, after Mr Frosh revealed he would be primarily focussing on roulette, he admitted, “I have noticed that there aren’t really systems that work for roulette.”

Regarding the motion, JCR Treasurer Kara Verkroost remarked, “It’s all a load of testes.”

However there was considerable support for Mr Frosh’s motion. Anya Green, who seconded the motion, endorsed, “Arieh’s motion was a novel way to solve the JCR’s financial stress. I absolutely backed him to be able to win us some money.”

During the discussions, Mr Frosh requested, “Can I add an amendment that if I lose the money, I get more money to get myself out of it?” Subsequently, amidst the confusion of the somewhat unordered discussion, two more amendments were made: one to fly Mr Frosh out to Las Vegas in order to gamble there; and another to give Mr Frosh all the money in the JCR’s possession. Both of these amendments were however then withdrawn, upon Mr Frosh’s request to “unamend”.

After some considerable discussion, a move to vote was called, of which the outcome was 25-13 in opposition. Mr Frosh declined to comment on the failure of the motion. However a close friend of Mr Frosh’s commented, “it was probably for the best- he’d have been in a pickle if the motion had passed.”

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