A FLOATING CASINO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13537, 7 September 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

A FLOATING CASINO.

Ax ingenious attempt to circumvent the American laws relating to gambling has just been checked at the instance of the Chicago authorities. A steamer chartered by a syndicate left Chicago every day, and proceeded to an anchorage in Lake Michigan, at the intersection of the State lines of Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan, which is just south of Chicago. This vessel was fitted with a receiver for wireless telegraphy, and by this means recoived racing news from all over the country, and the syndicate has been making immense profits by running the. steamer as a pool room. As the vessel complied with the navigation laws and with the regulations of the steamship inspection service, for a long time no law could be found to stop the scheme. But at last the Department of Commerce and Labour in Washington bethought them of a law which provides that a vessel's^license shall not continue in force unless she is engaged in the employment for which she is licensed, and ss ships are licensed only for trade or' fishing the Government decided that anchoring her off shore and using her as a gaming-house docs not come under either of thes* heads, and 1 evoked the vessel's sailing license. The syndicate intends to fight the case.