The sun., 1909-11-10
no LAY ODDS NOT A CRIME
C0URT OF APPEALS CPHOLDS
ORAL BETTING.
a1ns Drawn Betw cen True BoO,SmakinE
ann '.NIemory RroIdns'' On Case ef
Jones and chtenstcin- Five Judges
NJ Favor and Only One Dissents.


N AAsAxr, Nov. S.-The Court Of Appeals
| fo-day decided that oral betting is not a
cr1me. The decision was in the case of
a f)rlando Jones and Sol Lichtenstein.
y fnrraerly boolmakers who were indicted in
y Kings county on the charge OF bookmaking Z
X Roon after the Hughes anti-racetrack
/. Rambling laws went into operation. 1hoy
we're charged with orally laying and pub
1Ghing odds and accepting bet as n basis
I ~ such odds. The Kings county District
\ Attorney's office conducted the prosecu-
n tEon and lost in the lower courts, tho dis
ohArge OF the two men having been
f ordered
n The prevailing opinions OF the Court
0f Appeals are written by Judge Haight
h and Chief Judge Cullen. in which Judges
willard Bartlett. Hiscock and Chase con-
Xcnr.
ID Judge vann wrote a dissenting opinion.
&udge 4. T. Bartlett did not sit. In hiS
&spinion Judge Haight says:
n we conclude that the information filed
+ ~ the District Attorney failed to allege
\ tarts which constituted the crime of book
pahing and that therefore the order
oppsaled from should be affirmed
Joseph s. Auerbach and John B. Stanch-
'lksld argued for the racing interests and the
n Nbooimakers before the Court OF Appeals.
While Robert II. Elder. the Assistant
\ pistrict Attorney OF Kings county. argued
len behalf Of the Kings county District
Attorney for the prosecution. as the
p6enccs complained Of occurred on the
EEnoecourse Of the Brooklyn Jockey Club
In his opinion Judge Hai9ht SAYS: I'VE
have the question presented as to whether
, person who offers TO bet and so an
nounces TO others orally upon a horse
\ or horses that are about to engage In a
4 face In which he lays odds is a bookmaker
within the meaning of the statute. IL will
BE- observed that it is not alleged nor
claimed that the accused bookmakers
Il <kept or occupied any room or other
IulAoe as enumerated in the code or that
they occupied any place or stand upon any
public ground, with books. papers. ap-
p&ratus or paraphernala for the purpose
~ recording or registering bets or wagers,
Dor Ia IL alleged or pretended that they
reporjed or registered any wagers. The
provision relied upon by the District
I Attorney Is that they were engaged in
boobmsking. 81 that the le ying of odds and
orally announcing the same constituted
bookmaking within the meaning OF the
X statute.
~for mary years the racing of horses
for The purpose OF determining their skill.
speed and power of endurance has been
one Of the diversions in which a portion
OF the public has indulged. and no county
\ fair has been considered complete W ithcut
= race. Generally in large cities asso-
Citations have been organized which have
CONSTRUCTED tracks and enclosed grounds
FLOR that purpose. or late years
these associations have tolerated
ea system of bookrnakinG which
has come to be regarded as specially
vicious and demoralizing to the public
The ordinary bookmaker is a tperson
who follows the races and is enabled
20 prepare a list of horses entered. with
the odds SO arranged as to percentages
as to give him "A profit whichever
tho winning horse may be. This is the
owl which the Legislature sought TO
prevent by the enactment OF the hart
Agnew laws.
In order to make : practical use of the
hist Of odds and secure bets the percentage
has to be entered upon paper OF some other
material. so that the odds upon each horse
may bo posted or shown to the patrons
81 the races when their bets are solicited.
II 10 perhaps true that bookmaker may
retain In his own mind the memory of the
odds where three or four horses only
are entered in a race so that he could
ttADt Inc OuQb OTally 10 OtDers DuL IL would
N bo difficult for him or his customers to
remember the precise amounts in many
trannactaons and base their bets thereon
and, consequently but very few bets
could be taken under such circumstances
The masses could not be drawn into the
scheme and their money obtained without
eone writing or entry that they could
rely upon.
distinction between betting and gambling.
nf a .xlo
which people could resort for gambling.
At common law wagers on different sub
jects were legal and might be enforced,
while a gambling house or a resort for
sarne distinction obtains in this State.
where oral betting has never been a crime,
while the keeping OF a gambling house
has been subjected to severe punishment
The laying OF odds standing alone does
not therefore constitute q crime. II a man
should offer to bet the ladies OF his
az capdy. It would be the laying Of
odds tand publishing the same. To hold
him TO be a bookmaker would, in my
judgment be a departure from the rule
which gives TO the terms of the statute
their ordinary and accepted meaning, |
and would be a construction which was
not within the contemplation Of the Legis-
lnture.
The vice Of boolmaking chiefly con-
sists In soliciting and in the inducing
the public 70 take chances in the care
fully figured and planned schemes OF the
bookmaker. and this in order to be made
profitable to him requires the writing
out Of the list OF the odds laid on some
paper or material, so that il could be seen
by those who were solicited to invest"
The opinion Of the Appellate Division in
these cases was written by former Su- !
preme Court Justice William J. Gaynor,
now Mayor-elect of New York city, and |
the Court Of Appeals sustains him.
Chief Judge Cullen in his opinion saws.
-Legisiation should be practical and il is |
at least doubtful whether statute making
every offer or acceptance OF bet or wager
crime could. in the present state Of the
morals and the habits OF the community.
lie enforced. A general failure TO enforce
such statute would bring the law into
contempt and probably end in suffering
al gambling to go unchecked. II might
5e hard to diferentiate between public
and private gambling.
\ sFor that reason, while the statute
makes all bets and wagers void and
money lost thereon recoverable il has |
made gambling a crime only whore |