The record-union., 1897-01-12
AGAINSTqHE slot MACHINES
Mayor Hubbard Sends in a Veto to the
Ordinance.
He Considers It to be a Violation OF
Section $50 of the Penal
Code.

To the Honorable Board of Trustees:
1 herewith return to you ordnance NO.
-, entitled AN ordinance amending Or
dinance No. 345, entitled Am ordinance
to prohibit gambling by means OF auto
matte quotation exhibitors, slot ma
chimes wheels, or any similar cortr1v-
ance or imitation thereof, or by any
other device or scheme, approved June
IS, 1894, by excepting from the opera
ton of said ordinance such slot ma
chimes as are played for articles OF
merchandise" without my approval
Following is my reason for not approx
ing said proposed ordinance:
Section $50 of the Penal Code pro-
vides, among other things, that Every
persons who deals, plays or carries on,
opens, or causes to be opened, or who
conducts, either as owner or employe,
whether for hire or not, any game or
faro, monte, roulette, lanSquenet. rouge
et-noir, rondo, tan, fan tan, studhorse
poker, seven and a half, twenty-one, or
any banking or percentage game played
with cards, dice or any device, Tor
money, checks. credit or any other rep
resentative of value is punishable,
etc.
Section / of Ordinance No. $40 pro-
hibits the operation of Observation-Disclosures
machines and machines of similar kind
and character, and it is sought by this
| amendment to exclude from the opera
ton of said ordinance the slot machine
when kept and played solely and alone
for articles of merchandise.
That a municipality has the right to
| hill +lo e
such machines within it's limits, if their
use were otherwise lawful, will be con-
| coded; and the only question that pre-
sents itself is Whether the operation of
the slot machine is a violation of any
portion of Section $50 of the Penal Code,
above quoted.
From an examination of that section,
| am convinced that the operation of
such machines is a violation Of that
portion OF said section prohibiting per-
| centage games played with cards, dice
or any device for money, checks, credit
or any other representative of value. If
by the operation of such a machine,
something of value were given in ex-
change for the money deposited there
in, at each and every manipulation
thereof, there would, in my Judgment,
be no violation of the law; but when
money is deposited with the chance of
getting something of value or nothing,
then it is clearly in my opinion, per-
| centage game within the meaning of the
statute.
1t may be, and no doubt is, seriously
commended by some persons that per-
centage game is one in which an owner
or hirer reserves to himself a certain
fixed percentage of the amount in
volved in each and every operation of
such machine, and which percentage, in
every such case, is profit to such own
er or hirer; but it seems to me that
such a construction is too marrow, and
1 am firmly of the opinion that a game
may be run on a percentage basis,
whether the rate be fixed and certain, or
| whether it varies, or whether it be at
times for or against the owner or hirer
of such machine or device.
1 understand that these slot ma
| chimes mentioned in the ordinance do
not eject articles of merchandise, but
| that, after placing the coin in the ma
chine, it indicates, by some device,
whether the person playing has won
anything of value, or has entirely for
| feited his right to the coin SO deposited,
and that the machines are so construct
| ed that they work Systematically, and
with mathematical precision, for the
benefit of their owners.
There may be no great harm in per-
uniting such machines to be used, but,
as l understand the law, they are pro-
| hibfted, and no ordinance which we
| might pass would legaliZe the use of
| them.
1t follows, therefore, from the above
| that any person or persons voting for,
| or approving, said proposed ordinance
for the purpose therein mentioned,
would be aiding that kind of gaming
prohibited by law, and would, if it be-
came municipal ordinance, be guilty
| Of a felony, within the meaning of Sec
ton 337 of the Penal Code of California
| Respectfully submitted,
c. H. HUBBARD, Mayor
/