GAMING ACT CHARGES

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27377, 16 June 1954, Page 9

GAMING ACT CHARGES

SYSTEM OF RACING “ PICKS 99

MAGISTRATE ASKS FOR MORE EVIDENCE (New Zealand Press Association) PALMERSTON NORTH, June 15. Saying that he was not entirely convinced by the evidence that the system was “just a matter of chance,” Mr L. M. Inglis, in the Palmerston North Magistrate’s Court yesterday, adjourned the hearing of three charges against Henry Valentine McComish, licensee of the Empire Hotel, of using the premises as a common gaming house, assisting in an illegal lottery, and of using the premises for betting with other persons. The case was described by the police prosecutor (Senior-Detective J. G. Long) as a test. The charges arose out of the system df racing “picks” carried out at the Empire Hotel. Senior-Detective Long said that the defendant and other hotel licensees were carrying on the system as a result of a finding of Mr A. A. McLachlan, S.M., in the Lower Hutt Court in January. Mr McLachlan, on that occasion, ruled that racing “picks” were not breaches of the Gaming Act. Detective-Sergeant J. H. Alty said that McComish had said that he would “just as soon see them stopped.” It did not worry McComish whether the system was conducted or not, although he had mentioned that if one hotel ran it and the others did not, those that did- not would lose custom. The witness said that a certain race meeting was selected each week, and subscribers wrote the names of eight horses—one for each race on .the programme—on a slip of paper and entered the pool by paying 2s 6d. The pool closed at 11 a.m. on the day of the meeting, and the slips and money were checked by appointed customers to determine the prize money. The amount of the pool was written on a notice board.

Cross-examined, the witness said he was not aware of any advertising for. subscribers. The whole pool, he said, was paid out —there were no retentions.

He said that the licensees were warned to discontinue the system last January, and up until a short time ago they had acceded to the? request. “Unless I can say that the system entails a certain degree of skill, and is not entirely a matter of chance, I will have to ’convict,’’ the Magistrate said. “However, I want more evidence on the degree of skill entailed, as I think that it is an important matter.’’ He adjourned the hearing until Monday.