CHAPTER V. 



BETTING HOUSES AND GAMING HOUSES. 



Betting Houses. 



It is quite clear that any practice which has a tendency A common 



to injure the public morals, is an offence at common l"^*'™© liouse. 



law (ffl). And it is equally clear that the keeping of a common 



betting house has such a tendency. For it is found that 



persons are tempted by such places, not only to spend more 



of their own money than they can properly afford to lose, 



but also to embezzle the property of their employers. It 



would appear therefore that by law a common betting 



house is a public nuisance. 



To remedy the evil which obviously existed by the Act for 

 keeping of such houses, the " Act for the Suppression of suppression of 

 Betting Houses " (b) was passed. Referring to this Act, ^ '°^ ''^^^' 

 Hawkins, J., in delivering his judgment in Heg. v. Cook (c), 

 says : " I suppose it is common knowledge that before the 

 passing of 16 & 17 Vict. c. 119 in 1853, there existed in 

 London and other populous places, offices and houses where 

 a regular business of betting was carried on. The of&ces 

 or houses were sometimes conducted by a manager or the 

 owner or occupier whose business it might be said to be, or 

 sometimes the offices or houses were entrusted to a servant, 

 while the managers were elsewhere employed attending races 

 in the country. The business was of this kind : a list of 

 races about to take place, and the current odds against 

 each horse were placarded, and the proprietor, who either 

 himself or by another conducted the business, received 

 deposits from all sorts of persons to abide the event of races • 

 on which they were willing and anxious to bet, and they 

 in return for their deposits usually had a ticket handed to 

 them which enabled them when the race was over to receive 

 the money from the of&ce if they won, and if they lost 

 the deposit was gone, and they had. no further interest in 

 the bet." 



(a) See Sex v. Sogier, 1 B. & C. {c) 13 Q. B. D. 377, at pp. 381, 



272 ; 2 D. & E. 431. 382 ; 51 L. T., N. S. 21 ; 32 W. E. 



(4) 16 & 17 Vict. c. 119. 796. 



0. G G 



