. What
Is Gambling?
.
A DISCUSSION BY
" CURLEY" ROBI,N SON
Managing Director, Associated Operators of L. A. County
Gambling is a relative term which is
very loosely used. In its ordinary sense it
is used to denote the winning or losing of
money or other valuable things upon hazard
or chance; although there are many tran-
sactions which have the earmarks of win-
ning or losing and yet which are quite
innocently looked upon as every day busi-
ness transactions. These will be explained
a little later in this article.
Theorigin of gambling is an unsolved
question. Thomas Hyde, in his Syntagma
records his opinion that the original game
which has now been transformed into the
game of dice, was first played as a game
of "odd and even" with pebbles and this
was reaiIy the beginning of the game of
dice. Although a little later on a new game
known as "knucklebones" which bore a
great similarity to dice was evolved.
Records disclose that Sophocles ascribed
the invention of knucklebones til Pala-
medes, a Greek, who taught them to his
countrymen during the siege of Troy, and
who, according to Pausanias, made an of-
fering of them on the altar of the temple
of fortune. Herodotus relates that the
Lydians during the period of famine in
the days of King Atys invented "dice",
"knucklebones" and indeed all other
games except chess . . The fact that dice
have be~n used throughout the orient from
time immemorial has been proven by the
excavations from ancient tombs which
seems to point clearly to Asiatic origin.
Gambling with dice was a very popular
form of amusement in Ancient Greece, es-
pecially among the upper classes. The dice
were cast from conical beakers and the
highest thrown, 3 sixes always won, while
the lowest thrown was three aces. The
Romans were passionate ga.mblers espec-
ially during the luxurious days of the
Roman empire and dicing waS their fav-
orite form of amusement. Nero and
Claudius were passionately fond of gam·
bling and the latter wrote a book on it.
History records that · even the North
American Indians as early as 1636 played
with dice, and Father Brebeuf gives long
accounts of the game played by these
Indians.
.
In England, various forms of gambling
were recognized from the early days and
from 1793 to 1824 the English Lottery was
everyone's got a nickel for
BROTHER BILL
On Bluebird: TONY PASTOR
I
a recognized method of obtaining money
for the' Crown; the sum of 346,765 pounds
was realized during this period.
Even in this country the Louisiana Lot-
tery was recognized as a source of rev·
enue; however many states have banned
gambling, lotteries and other forms of
gambling with the exception of the State
of Nevada which has a population of a
little over 100,000, where legalized gam-
bling is permitted.
In all of the other states, gambling has
to a more or less degree been suppressed
by legislation, but certain transactions are
indulged in every day under the guise of
legitimate business transactions which,
upon careful scrutinx, are but a modified
form of gambling which the result is the
same, to-wit: someone wins while another
loses.
The Supreme Court of the State of Cali-
fornia, in an early decision which has
never been reversed said that "Draw
Poker" w'as an innocent and amusing game
and classified this game in the same ' class
as Checkers or Chess.
Now what are stock market transactions
but when carefully analysed, are really
gambling transactions. The law draws a
very fine distinctiori as to these transactions
compared with gambling, but this distinc-
ti'on is merely an artificial one. When
stocks are purchased on the open market,
and the buyer intends to take actual de-
livery (whether he actually does or not
does not matter), this is regarded not to
be a gambling transaction. But how many
people purchasing stocks contemplate tak-
ing actual delivery. The great majority of
them actually buy to make a profit on the
rising market and sometimes sell five or ten
minutes later even before an actual record
is made of their purchase.
The same is true of the person who buys
"on the short market" which is merely a
case of a person selling so many shares of
stock which he does. not own, and then
buying an equal nmfiber of shares when
they have gone lower, . so he can fill the
order for delivery; he has sold at a higher
price and then bought in at a lower price
and made his profit. This can only be done,
however, on a faIling market. Yet this is
not called gambling in business parlance
-it is given the puritan name of "stock
trading". If, perchance, the stock which
he has sold does not drop, but on the con-
trary rises, the seller is compelled to buy
on a rising market and thereby suffers a
loss, since he has no control over the mar-
ket any more than a patron can control the
spin of a roulette wheel.
The insurance company gambles with
the insured upon a contingency that he
will have paid into the company at least
as much as they would be called upon to
pay to his beneficiary at his death; in
other words, the company gambles with the
insured that he will live long enough for
the company to make a profit on their in-
vestment in his life.
The farmer gambles when he plants his
grain that he will reap a good harvest and
that the fruits of his labors will not be
despoiled by the elements.
The merchant gambles when he pur-
chases hi's commodities that he will not
lose by the rise and fall of the market over
which he has no control, and that his pur-
chases will render him adequate returns.
These are but a few of the uncertainties
-yet, hazards, which go to make up every
- - - - - - - - T URN PAGE
yes sir, It's
STRICTLY INSTRUMENTAL
On Decca: JERRY WALD
ANOTHER MONTH
NEARER VICTORY!
~~~
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1942