Court Opinion

ID: 9632470
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 11:16:00.294659+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:16.979224
License: Public Domain

*155Grady, J.
(dissenting)—I am not in accord with the view that gambling by means of a slot machine is a lottery. The majority opinion makes a simple matter quite complicated. The problem presented is readily determined by a consideration of our constitutional and legislative history on the subject of gambling, rather than merely following the ideas expressed by other courts.
The majority opinion points out the existing evils which prompted the framers of the constitution to place an inhibition upon the legislature with reference to a lottery by § 24 of Art. 2. They had before them § 913 of the Code of 1881, which had been enacted in 1854.
“Sec. 913. Every person who shall sell any lottery tickets, or shares in any lottery, for the division of property to be determined by chance, or shall make or draw any lottery or scheme for a division of property, not authorized by law, on conviction thereof, shall be fined in any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall apply to any lottery for charitable purposes.”
This legislative provision indicated what was understood to constitute a lottery. It also indicated that a lottery might be authorized by law. It made an exception ip cases of a lottery for charitable purposes. The territorial legislature must have considered that a lottery for charitable purposes would not be productive of the evil sought to be prohibited by the legislation. A comparison of the lottery statute and the other statutes relating to various forms of gambling indicates that none of them was embraced in that which was regarded as a lottery. The statute continued to be the law on the subject of lottery until 1909, when the legislature enacted the following:
“A lottery is a scheme for the distribution of money, or property by chance, among persons who have paid or agreed to pay a valuable consideration for the chance, whether it is called a lottery, a raffle, gift enterprise, or by any other name, and is hereby declared unlawful and a public nuisance.
“Every person who contrives, proposes or draws a lottery, or assists in contriving, proposing or drawing a lottery, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state penitentiary for *156not more than five years, or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or. by both.” [RCW 9.59.010.]
After statehood, the legislature from time to time enacted legislation relating to various forms of gambling according as different' schemes therefor-were devised or invented. The fundamental difference between a lottery and other forms of gambling was always recognized and dealt with separately.
Possession of mechanical devices for gambling was prohibited by § 220 of chapter- 249 of the Laws of 1909 [RCW 9.47.030].
“Every person who has in his possession or permits to be placed or kept in any building or boat, or part thereof, owned, leased, or occupied by him, any table, slot machine, or any other article, device or apparatus of a kind commonly used for gambling, or operated for the losing or winning of money or property, or any representative of either, upon any chance or uncertain or contingent event, shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor.”
It seems to me it would require a stretch of the imagination to say that this statute has any aspect of a lottery as such form of gambling was understood by the framers of the constitution or the legislature when enacting legislation on that subject.
It is my view that purchasing a chance on a lottery is far different than putting a coin in a slot machine. In the lottery, a large number of tickets are sold and the prize to the winner is a sum of money or other property. All of the ticket holders have a common interest in the objective. When all tickets are sold, there is a drawing and the one who holds the number of the one drawn gets the prize. In the case of the slot machine, a person puts a coin into it through an aperture and pulls a lever or like device. He may receive- a sum of money or its equivalent. Usually he gets nothing. At irregular intervals the mechanism causes the machine to yield. My mind rebels against the idea that a slot machine is a lottery.
It may be that good public policy warrants prohibition of all forms of gambling. It is a well known fact that many *157people indulge in playing slot machines and other forms of gambling at a financial sacrifice. However, any social, economic, or moral problem involved is for the legislature to solve by appropriate legislation. It is within the province of the legislature to authorize or prevent thé use of gambling devices. The wisdom and policy with reference to such activity is highly controversial. There has always been a substantial segment of our population which desires to gamble in some form, and the legislature is frequently importuned by individuals and groups thereof to relax gambling laws and make exceptions in their coverage. Success was achieved by securing the passage of chapter 119 of the Laws of 1937 (RCW 9.47.040-050). By this enactment, organizations like appellánt were authorized to own slot machines so that their. members might have access to and might have opportunity to operate them. Another relaxation of gambling laws was chapter 55, Laws of 1933 (RCW 67.16.060), relating to horse racing.
The decisions of the courts in the various states which have had occasion to pass upon the question of whether gambling by use of a slot machine is a lottery are in conflict. Which line of cases constitutes the “weight of authority” is largely a matter of individual opinion. I think it was the intention of the framers of our constitution to deal with the question of a lottery separate and distinct from other forms of gambling. The fact that they placed an inhibition upon the legislature to authorize any lottery but did not place such inhibition with reference to other forms of gambling is persuasive to me that they had' in mind the form of gambling by a lottery that was then in vogue and had been productive of many evils. To cite, quote from, and discuss the cases holding that a slot machine is not a lottery would serve no useful purpose in a dissenting opinion, and hence I refrain from so doing.
Donworth, J., concurs with Grady, J.
October 29, 1952. Petition for rehearing denied.