Fines imposed for pyramid games

Press, 2 September 1980, Page 3

Fines imposed for pyramid games

PA Auckland:, Two,;, people were conyicted and fined yesterday in a test case in, which a Dis-;i trict Court Judge ruled that ■ the pyramid money game* was an 'illegal game of : chance.’. - : . < -b Appearing before Judge' Taylor in the District Court J at Auckland were lvan : Charles Hogg, aged . 35, a j pest . control operator, of i Mount Albert, and Margarets Elaine Dallimore, aged ,39. a;; legal accountant, of Hills-i< borough. .! Last month in a -defended . hearing Hogg denied one i charge of organising a pyra-i, mid game,,one of permitting the. premises he occupied to! be used for an illegal game:, of chance, and one of- organ- . ising an illegal lottery called ‘ the pyramid money game.;; All charges were laid under}; the Gambling and Lotteries;, •Act. ” ' " ; ’ < Dallimore denied one:, charge of assisting in the or-; - ganisation of. a pyramid; game and one of assisting in., the organisation : of an illegal; lottery game.- ' Detective Constable J. LJ Stringer bad then given evi- . dence ofL attending, a pyramid party, in a-garage, at 20 Morningside : 'Drive,.- Mount Albert, on July 9'and 10. ; The defendant Hogg had explained to those present the'workingiand rule.s of the tvas assisted by: Dallimore. ;J .The Judge said yesterdaythat Detective Stringer’s evi-; denceT indicated ■-..jhat <THoggand Dallimtire >vefe the prin-; cipal orriamsers of. the gamed on July JO." j iEven though the work, vyas done, voluntarily, it still il counted f‘asf -“‘organisation.” , This did ; not-‘exclude the;] possibility. That others_par- 1

ticipated in the organisation. , [ In deciding whether the pyramid game was strictly.a} ] “game,” the Judge said a Igame did not-need to include 'an element of contest or! competition. . j “In my view the activities! ;associated with the pyramid! ‘operations are in a very true; ; sense a game,” he said. : Clearly the game was ; played with a view to win-: ning money and the final: : outcome depended certainly : partly arid probably wholly lon chance. It was inevitable that ‘some people would lose because there was not enough ■money or sufficient people ! to maintain later pyramids. : The judge said that only the early participants were ! assured of receiving $BOOO out of the garhe. Within a I short time that ’ pyramids had to collapse leaving a ; large number of investors; losing their money. If the I game was allowed to con-} ; tinue the total amount of : money in the country would} soon be absorbed. • i “The chances of. those: I who are at the sixteenth ori ! thirty-second line of the py-j ramid are o,uite unequal to! those who are there at’the beginning.” he said. In addition, there was an unexplained clause on the 'pyrariiid chart saying it was null and void after December 31, . 1980. If the chart was not completed by then the in- : vestors stood to lose their i,money. i The Judge concluded: l“This operation is an illegal igame of chance.” i. Counsel for Hogg, Mr K. ’ P. McDonald, said the day 'before Hogg’s'arrest two ex-1 i perienced solicitors stated■publicly in a newspaper that} they did not think the game

illegal. He said that to a certain extent people relied on what was in newspapers, and Hogg had taken all the precaution’s he could in ; checking the legality of the game. i Mr McDonald asked the i Judge to deal with the matter as a test case by laying down guidelines but discharging the defendants ‘without conviction.

Counsel for Dallimore, Mr E. T. Midlane, said it would be unfair to single out the two defendants from the thousands who took part in the game all over New Zealand.

“The real culprits are the persons who came to this country and set this game up, and disappeared before the police became involved,” he said.

Dallimore had taken legal advice from two lawyers and had kept a close watch on the newspapers. But Iwhen she first took part in 1 a pyramid on July 3 nobody really knew what was going ion. Police opinion did not ■harden until July 10 when she and Hogg were arrested. , Imposing sentence, the .'Judge said he did not question the defendants’ good citizenship. There was no great moral obliquity in engaging in an illegal game in New Zealand. Until this test case the law on the game had been uncertain. “Until or unless my decision is upset,” he said, “the lawns now certain and to an extent that certainty has been found at the expense of the defendants.” The Judge said he wanted it widely known that there were substantial powers of I fining, and even a test case seemed to need a small fine imposed. He warned that other cases would not be dealt with so leniently and convicted participants would probably receive “very, very heavy penalties.” He" dismissed the alternative charges dealing with organisation of an illegal lottery game. and fined Hogg $5O; and Dallimore $25. ; Mr McDonald said both defence counsel were considering appealing against the convictions and sentences.