Sporting Review . . AND . . LICENSED VICTUALLERS’ GAZETTE. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKEY STANDARD. Thursday, April 30, 1896 TURF GOSSIP. BETTING RESTRICTIONS IN AMERICA.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VI, Issue 301, 30 April 1896, Page 4

Sporting Review . . AND . . LICENSED VICTUALLERS’ GAZETTE. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKEY STANDARD. Thursday, April 30, 1896 TURF GOSSIP. BETTING RESTRICTIONS IN AMERICA.

Ouk American sporting friends do not appear to be out of their trouble yet in connection with the opposition to any kind of betting in connection with horseracing or trotting. We quote what the Spirit of the Times has to say on the subject“ There appears to be a misapprehension in some trotting circles as to the scope of the two Bills now before the Legislature at Albany, and which propose to amend the Percy law of last season, which makes trotting and running legal in this State. Any restrictions with regard to trotting meetings or fairs where running races also take place, have been so carefully defined that they will only apply to the cases they were specially designed to meet, namely, such a ‘ merry-go-round’ as was attempted at Maspeth, where, with the aid of a few squashes, it was proposed to hold a continuous running meeting under the name of a fair, and beyond the control and licens'e of the State Commission. Such meetings the reputable followers of trotting sport are.as much opposed to as the members of the Jockey Club. A second error is that these new bills should have an amendment reducing the offense for selling pools to a misdemeanour punishable with a light fine. The Spirit would like to see such an amendment passed, but the Percy law is not the law to be so amended, as it is not the act which contains the clause making pool-selling a felony. So far as the Percy law is concerned, it makes it a misdemeanour for any association or corporation to accept any compensation from persons for the privilege of making bets or pools. The law which makes pool-selling and bookmaking a felony is what is called the Wilds act, Section 352 of which reads as follows : —‘ Sec. 351. Pool-selling, bookmaking, bets and wagers, etc.—Any person who engages in pool-selling or bookmaking at any time or place ; or any {a) person who keeps or occupies any room, shed, tenement, tent, booth, or building, float or vessel, or any part thereof, or who occupies any place or stand of any kind, upon any public or private grounds, within this State, with books, papers, apparatus, or paraphernalia, for the purpose of recording or registering- bets or wagers, or of selling pools, and any person who records or registers bets or wagers, or sells pools upon the result of any trial or contest of skill, speed, or . power of endurance, of man or beast, or upon the result of any political nomination or election; or upon the result of any lot, chance, casualty, unknown or contingent event whatsoever ; or any person who receives, registers, records, or forwards, or purports or pretends to receive, register, record, ;or forward in any manner whatsoever, any money, thing, or consideration of value, bet or wagered, dr offered - for the purpose of being "bet or-wagered by or for any other

person, or sells pools upon any such result ; or any person who, being the owner, lessee, or occupant of any room, shed, tenement, tent, booth, or building, float or vessel, or part thereof, or of any grounds within this State, knowingly permits the same to be used or occupied for any these purposes, or therein keeps, exhibits, or employs any device or apparatus for the purpose of recording or registering such bets or wagers, or the selling of such pools, or becomes the custodian or depository for gain, hire, or reward, of any money, property, or thing of value, staked, wagered, or pledged, or to be wagered or pledged upon any such result; or any person who aids, assists, or abets in any manner in any of the said acts, which are hereby forbidden, is guilty of a felony, except when another penalty is provided by law, and upon conviction, is punishable by imprisonment in the State prison for a period not less than one year, nor more than two years, or by such imprisonment, together with a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars [or both J. WLen an exclusive penalty is provided by law for an act hereby prohibited, the permitting of the use of premises for the doing of the act in such case shall not be deemed a violation hereof, or of Section three hundred and forty-three of this code ’ It is contrary to all legislative practice to propose an amendment to a clause which does not exist in one law, and not pro-

pose the same amendment to a clause which does not exist in another law, the latter clause being objectionable and the one which the amendment is meant to supersede. Quicker action can be obtained at Albany by introducing a direct amendment to the above section of the Wilds bill, which, it appears to us, would under any circumstances be absolutely necessary, even should the same amendment be added to to the Page and Austin bills, now before the House. The Spirit is first, last, and all the time in favour of any measures which will reduce the undue restriction under which trotting and racing sport now suffers, but if poolselling is to be removed from the list of felonious offenses it must be by amending the Wilds law.”