In this Bill we propose to amend and consolidate the ancient laws in force, dating from 1698 to 1892, which prohibit gaming and lotteries.
The general principle which has guided us in our approach to the problems is that gaming is not wrong in itself, that when carried on privately it does not call for State intervention, but when promoted with the object of enriching the promoter, it requires to be supervised and kept within moderate dimensions so as to safeguard the public from fraud and from being induced to play to excess. These remarks also apply to the promotion of lotteries.
I am happy to say that the Government's proposals embodied in the Bill were well received in the Dáil and, indeed, by the professional showmen and amusement caterers, and the general public. On the section-to-section details there was a remarkable degree of unanimity as to what should be done. Sometimes there were differences of opinion which disappeared as the debate proceeded and, on the whole, the criticism was constructive. It would be too much to hope, I suppose that at this, our first attempt, at dealing with this long-outstanding difficult problem, we will prove to be 100 per cent. successful, but, anyway, this Bill is a beginning and I am satisfied that we are establishing sound foundations in case further legislation is required later on to tidy up any looseness that may be revealed through actual working conditions.
The Bill is in five parts, the first of which is concerned merely with definitions and repeals. Parts II and III deal with gaming, Part IV with lotteries and Part V with enforcement, evidence and penalties.
Under Part II of the Bill, gaming is defined in Section 2 as:
"... playing a game of skill or chance or partly of skill and partly of chance for stakes hazarded by the players."
In Section 4 gaming which is unlawful is defined. At this point I want to make it clear that it is the person who promotes or assists in promoting, or provides facilities for unlawful gaming who is prosecuted. The actual players. are not punishable. Section 4 also provides in its third sub-section that gaming, otherwise unlawful, is not to be unlawful when carried on in the circumstances specified. I feel that I should emphasise that the definition of unlawful gaming in Section 4 is very important. The existing law was aimed at the promotion of games of chance and it was a good defence to police proceedings to show that the element of chance did not predominate over the element of skill in playing a game. In consequence, promoters introduced variations of gambling games which ostensibly required an element of skill in the playing and the courts had difficulty in deciding whether particular games were games of chance. And different courts gave contrary decisions in relation to a particular game. With the new definitions of gaming in Section 2 and of unlawful gaming in Section 4 we hope to make it hot for any person who promotes or provides facilities for gaming outside the limits permitted in this Bill.
I do not think that I need go into any detail on this Reading about Section 6 which deals with the conditions under which gaming may be carried on at circuses or travelling shows or about Section 7 which deals with gaming at carnivals and such events. The purpose of Section 6 is to let the circuses and shows which travel about the country, never stopping more than a couple of days in any one place, to operate slot machines for small prizes in kind, to promote pongo or roulette or such like games for small stakes and small prizes. Similarly Section 7 allows moderate gaming for one month, for what might be described as worthy purposes, where the organising group get no personal profit.
I would also direct your particular attention to Section 8: this section was not in the Bill when first circulated and it was inserted as a result of fears that unless the proprietors, etc., of equipment used in gambling games were living here we might very well see a situation developing in which unscrupulous foreign promoters might pay us flying visits, operate with rigged machines, etc., and be gone again before the police could catch up on them. While recognising the useful part which the circus, travelling show and carnivals, etc., play in brightening up life in villages and small towns, we do not want to establish an El Dorado for showmen and amusement caterers where they can look for gold at every turn of the wheel.
Section 9 deals with gaming on licensed premises and in sub-sections (1) and (2) simply restates the existing law: sub-section (3) is new and it provides that the playing of cards at whist or bridge drives in licensed hotels, or games such as darts or rings in ordinary public-houses, when conducted for sociable purposes and where the promoter or licensee providing facilities does not take a personal profit from the game, is not unlawful. What we are doing in sub-section (3) is changing the statute law to correspond with the law of common sense so that these harmless, sociable types of gaming may be played in licensed premises in future without any fear of police proceedings.
Section 10 is another important section. It prohibits absolutely the type of slot machine which, on the insertion of a coin or token, automatically delivers, when successfully operated, a cash prize in excess of the value of the stake. These machines commonly referred to as "one-armed bandits" are gold-mines for the owners: their mechanism is always adjusted to give the owner a profit which may vary from a penny in threepence to tenpence in the shilling. They are, in effect, devices for transferring money from the pockets of the public into the pockets of the owners and their particular harm lies in the rapidity with which they may be operated. There are, of course, other types of slot-machines which are gaming machines in that they are coin operated but deliver prizes in kind when successfully operated. These are the kind referred to in sub-section (2) of Section 4 and they can only be operated in the circumstances set out in Sections 6, 7 and 14 of this Bill.
I come now to Part III of the Bill which provides for the establishment of licensed amusement halls and funfairs at which gaming may be promoted all the year round. Originally our intention was that these premises would only be allowed to operate at tourist resorts and only during the holiday season—in other words where there was a public demand for that kind of amusement—and in order to bring that about we provided in the Bill, as introduced, what we considered were necessary safeguards. We provided, first of all, that such a premises could be established in a town or village, etc., only where the appropriate local authority—the urban council, town commissioners, county councils, etc., as the case might be—as the representatives of the local people— formally passed a resolution approving the whole or a specified part of their administrative area as proper for the establishment of such amusement halls; then we went on to limit the period, during which gaming could be carried on from Easter Sunday to 30th September; and we put in provisions so that only a fit and proper person could get a licence for suitable premises. In the Dáil, however, I was persuaded—somewhat reluctantly, I will admit—to allow the court, when granting a certificate in a particular year which would authorise the Revenue Commissioners to issue a licence permitting gaming at an amusement hall or funfair, to fix the period in that year, during which gaming might be carried on. I have no doubt, however, that if the local authority of a particular place indicates by way of resolution, its view that licences should be issued only for the holiday season or a specified period of a year the District Court concerned, when hearing applications would take cognisance of such a view.
Part IV of the Bill is concerned with lotteries. We are allowing office sweeps, raffles at dances, etc., which are in the nature of minor private ventures, to be promoted without formality. We provide for lotteries at circuses, carnivals and licensed amusement halls within the limitations of stakes and prizes and the conditions already provided in respect of gaming at these places under the earlier parts of the Bill. Then we recognise that there is a certain public demand for lotteries of a more ambitious type which are promoted for the benefit of some charity or for some worthy purpose and we provide for these by way of police permit for a lottery with a £300 prize limit and a District Court licence where a periodical lottery is being promoted with prizes not exceeding £500 per week and in which not more than 40 per cent. of the gross proceeds goes to the expenses of promotion. My personal view is that the public would be better served if prizes were limited to £300 at most, and the expenses of promotion to 25 per cent. at most of the gross proceeds, but there was a body of opinion in the Dáil against me and with some reluctance I agreed to raise the limits originally set out in the Bill.
Part V of the Bill relates to enforcement, evidence and penalties. It will be observed that we are re-enacting the law contained in the statute of 1845 which declares gaming and wagering contracts void. I was under some pressure in the Dáil to change the law in this respect or to give way to the extent that proceedings against a defaulting punter could be heard in court. Balancing all the arguments for and against, I felt that the law should remain unchanged and that was the general feeling of the House.
The remaining provisions are of a routine nature: some of them correspond to provisions in statutes named in the Schedule to the Bill which are now being repealed, and others correspond to provisions of the law in force.
In conclusion, I feel that I should mention, as I did in the Dáil, that this Bill has been framed after many years' consideration of the problems and that while it has been my lot to promote the Bill, more than one of my predecessors in office, as Minister for Justice, has had a hand in its shaping.