The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-02-19
THE BUCKET SHOP BILL.

I HE BILL that has been introduced
for the suppression of bucket shops
ought to pass without any difficulty,
and it ought 10 be enforced to the let
ter. The bucket shop is a place where
men so to gamble who would not be
seen in common gambling place
Bucket shops give betting an air of re-
spectability that has led to the ruin of
men who could not be -misled as to the
immortality of gambling pure and sim
pie. but who easily deceive themselves
as TO the legitimacy Of bucket shop OPP
erati0ns. In some cases right here in
Salt Lake men Of high standing and
considerable means have lost their all
in bucket-shop operations who could
not have been induced to bet the small
est possible amount on straight gam
bling proposition.
The proposed law does not interfere
IL the least with legitimate brokerage
operations. since there is a distinct and
wide difference between bucket shops
and honest brokerage. John HILL jr., of
Chicago. who has done a great public
service in his fight against the bucket
shops OF that city, defines this differ
ence. According to Mr.. Hill. a bucket
shop is an office, store or other place
run OstensibIy as a brokers office. but
wherein. under the guise of trading.
bets are laid on the future course of the
markets on the exchanges of the coun-
try. The proprietor DISCUSSES his bust
ness so that it appears exactly similar
TO that of a legitimate broker The
quotations posted in a bucket shop are
exactly similar TO those posted in a
legitimate brokers' office. but they are
displayed for q different purpose. The
broker posts the quotations to show
what the market is, simply as a matter
of news, and as recording a past event.
The bucket shop posts the same quo
tations as the terms upon which its
patrons may make bets with the keep
CT. The bucket shop is destroyed when
it loses supply of quotations, the COM
missions charged by the bucket shop
are odds in their favor and necessary
in order to maintain its pretense of be
ing Ia the legitimate brokerage business
and making The transactions on an ex-
change. The margins are the patrons
stakes to the wager and it is the aim
~ the bucket shop keeper to win these
stakes. consequently his interests are
always opposed to that of his patrons
Mr.. Hill might have added that the
sole source of revenue derived by a
legitimate broker is the commissions
received from buying and selling stocks
and grain for his clients Naturally,
the brokers' supreme effort is to make
all the money he can for his client. tor
in that way the client viii trade largely
and add to the brokers' revenue The
bucket shop. on the other hand. must
take away from the customer, as shat
is the shops source of profits In no
sense does the transaction differ from
the betting in a faro game or any other
gambling transaction where the GUS
toners loss is the gamblers profit
In one case the transaction is a legit-
innate purchase, in the other it is a
bet with the odds against the patron of
the bucket shop, and the loss TO the
community in this business is ire
mendous and the Generalization of
legitimate business incalculable.
The legislature owes it to the COM
munity and to the protection of Iegiti-
mate business to stop the bucket shop
games as quickly as possible.