Court Opinion

ID: 9739997
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:25:24.135633+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:15.311123
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Schaefer, dissenting. I agree that the definition of lottery in the new Criminal Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1963, chap. 38, par. 28 — 2(b)) is a codification of the common law. It seems to me that this court’s decision under the common-law definition should therefore be considered in the present case. In Iris Amusement Corp. v. Kelly, 366 Ill. 256, the court considered a scheme called “bank night,” in which the only requirement for participation was presence outside the sponsoring motion picture theater and the holders of lucky numbers were awarded cash prizes. The court held that this scheme was a lottery. The opinion stressed that “bank night” involved all the evils of lotteries and that most people would buy tickets admitting them to the theater. The Kelly case is close to the present one. Certainly most “Split the Dollar” participants will patronize the defendant’s store. This scheme, like bank night, preys on “* * * cupidity, envy, jealousy and temptation — the very things sought to be avoided by that enlightened public policy of most of the world which has outlawed lotteries.” Iris Amusement Corp. v. Kelly, 366 Ill. at 267. The majority relies on Federal Communications Com. v. American Broadcasting Co. 347 U.S. 284, which held that radio “give-aways” which conditioned participation on listening to the program were not lotteries. But there the Court expressly distinguished schemes like the present one which requires the participant to leave his home. Apparently the Court was adopting a test based on substantial effort. (347 U.S. at 295, n. 15.) Even if the statutory definition of lottery requires more than consideration in the contractual sense, the substantial effort required in the present case fulfills the requirements for a lottery. In my opinion we should follow the Kelly case, and the judgment should be affirmed. Mr. Justice Underwood joins in this dissent.