RACING AND BETTING. 365 



contract was therefore void as being "by way of gaming or 

 wagering." ^®^ 



Where the plaintiff put in the hands of the defendant, who 

 was secretary of a driving association,^ $60 as an entrance fee 

 to entitle him to trot his horse over a race-course to com- 

 pete for two purses of $300 each and the plaintifil: trotted 

 one race and was defeated and the other race was withdrawn 

 on account of bad weather, and the association tendered the 

 plaintiff $30 which he refused to accept, it was held in an 

 action to recover $60 that there was no such contract of 

 wager between the plaintiff and defendant as would defeat 

 the action.^^** 



It was held in Delaware that a wager on a horse-race out 

 of the jurisdiction of the State is not illegal. "Any bet . . . 

 on a horse-race instituted and run in this State would be 

 illegal and void ; but this court cannot regard a horse-race as 

 illegal which is run in the State of Maryland, where racing 

 is not prohibited ; neither can we regard a bet made on such 

 a race as unlawful, here or there. Neither the race nor the 

 bet is immoral in itself; nor is it prohibited by our act of 

 assembly which does not reach the case. If, therefore, this 

 race in reference to which the bet was made was run in 

 Maryland, and the appointed judges of the race have decided 

 against the plaintiff, he cannot recover back from the stake- 

 holder the money placed in his hands. Whether their deci- 

 sion was right or wrong is not open for discussion as they 

 are the chosen judges of this question." ^®^ 



" There is a similar decision in New York.^®* 

 In Virginia it was held that where one keeps a house 

 wherein he posts the names of horses running on a race-track 



"" Coombes v. Dibble, L. R. i Ex. 248. 



^" Jordan v. Kent, 44 How. Pr. (N. Y.) 206. And see Hankins v. Ot- 

 tinger, 115 Cal. 454. 

 As to what is a "stake race," see Stone v. Clay, 18 U. S. App. 622. 

 =°° Ross V. Green, 4 Harr. (Del.) 308. 

 '" Harris v. White, 81 N. Y. 532. 



