BETTING HOUSES. 



461 



not the intention of the Act to make all betting illegal, and 

 it is just as lawful now as it ever was for persons to bet 

 together casually at any place, and as often as, and to any 

 extent they please. The mischief the Act was pointed at 

 was as expressed by Erie, C. J., in Bogrjett v. Cattems : 

 ' The habit of using a particular place by persons skilled in 

 gambling and betting, for the purpose of luring the ignorant 

 and imprudent to the ruinous courses to which the vice of 

 gambling so frequently leads,' and for the purpose of check- 

 ing that habit, it was forbidden to any person to use any 

 place for the purpose of systematically carrying on a busi- 

 ness of betting with or receiving deposits on bets from 

 persons resorting thereto. It is not the mere act of betting 

 frequently, or with many persons ; it is the carrying on the 

 business of betting and announcing such business to those 

 assembled, and inviting the persons resorting to the place 

 to bet with such bettors, which the law was intended to 

 suppress." 



" With reference to what constitutes a user of a place," 

 says the same learned Judge {k), " I am of opinion that it 

 is not necessary that it should be confined to one particular 

 spot within the ambit of the place, or that the business 

 should be announced in any particular manner, or that the 

 use should be confined to one particular person. A man 

 may just as well use a place by walking about from spot to 

 spot within the area occupied by the persons resorting 

 thereto, as he may by seating himself on a high stool in 

 one particular spot. Nobody would say a man did not use 

 a house because he shifted his operations from room to 

 room as he found it most convenient, or that he did not use 

 a room because, instead of sitting on a chair, or standing in 

 a fixed spot, he walked up and down it. . . . As to 

 the mode of using a place for the illegal purposes mentioned, 

 it is immaterial what particular means are resorted to for 

 those purposes. A man may stand on a stool in one spot, 

 or he may sit at a desk, or he may walk here and there in 

 all parts of the place amongst the assembled multitude, 

 indicating in any way he may think fit or most attractive, 

 his business or avocation, and his readiness to bet with the 

 persons who are assembled at the place. To use all parts 

 of a place in this manner seems to me to be a more effectual 

 use of it than to confine himself to a particular spot. He 

 may use as his attraction or advertisement a tall painted 



"WTiat consti- 

 tutes user. 



Mode of 

 usiuo;. 



(k) 17 Cox, C. C. at pp. 442, 443. 



