EUCHRE TOURNEYS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 26, 30 July 1927, Page 11

EUCHRE TOURNEYS

HELD TO BE ILLEGAL

(By Telegraph.)

(Special to "The Evening Post.")

AUCKLAND, 29th July. There is nothing to prevent a man from playing bridge or poker for money every evening of the week, if he is so disposed. The general liberty of gaming is limited only to this extent, however, that it becomes illegal if it. takes place in a common gaming house, or if tho game of chance is played in a public place, said the Magistrate, Mr. M'Kean, in delivering judgment in a ease where a Devonport resident was charged with using tho Masonic Hall as a common gaming-house, having rented the premises for a progressive euchre tourney. It was a weekly affair, and tho defendant conducted similar tourneys in Auckland and Onehung'a. Mr. M'Koan held that the game was played in such circumstances (entrance to hall 2s, prizes &o; £.3, £1, and £3 3s for tho best monthly aggregate) that it camo within section 10 of tho Gaming Act. The evidence showed that the defendant mado a business of such a tourney by holding them regularly. This amounted to keeping a common gaming-house. The legislation was directed against those who, for their own profit and in tho way of business, open premises for gamine purposes. *

The Magistrate concluded that neither the manner of conducting the tourney nor the amount of the prizes constituted the premises a nuisance. On counsel's application, Mr. M'Kean refrained from recording a conviction till Monday.