Bingo, Morality and the Criminal Law
Bingo, Morality and the Criminal Law
Frederick J. Ludwig
Dominic Hughes
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Article 3
The following article is based upon the belief that the wisdom and
prudence of operating bingo games for humanitarian purposes should
be left to the discretion of the administrators of religious, charitable
and fraternal organizations, and that the criminal law should control
but not prohibit bingo under such auspices.
BINGO, MORALITY AND THE
CRIMINAL LAW
FREDERICK J. LUDWIG*
DOMINIC HUGHES, O.P.
A BROOKLYN PASTOR may be forced to close a newly constructed
recreation center that had almost untenanted notorious neighborhood
pool rooms because local law enforcement authorities suddenly ceased
to ignore bingo games that made mortgage payments possible.' A teaching
sister, principal of a parochial school in California, is about to stand
trial and risk the stigma of conviction as a criminal because a child
naively believed that the local district attorney would buy a chance on a
school raffle if only he would ask him.2 In Pennsylvania, an American
Legion post commander is under arrest and has lost his job as public
school teacher for similar fund raising activity.3
Should these individuals be considered criminals? Is gambling really
morally wrong in itself or does it become wrong only under certain
circumstances? And specifically, are bingo, lotto, raffles or lotteries when
conducted under proper auspices still so dangerous to the public welfare
as to require not merely regulation but complete suppression by the
criminal law?
The adoption by 3 to 1 of a referendum in New Jersey in 1953
authorizing bingo, lotto and raffles 'by licensed educational, charitable, patriotic,
religious and public spirited bodies, has made more insistent the demand
for similar law revision in other states. In 1954 a half dozen such
proposals were introduced in the New York State Legislature and other
* For a biographical sketch of the authors see pages 78, 79.
'N. Y. Times, Oct. 12, 1954, p. 52, col. 2.
For fuller report of this case, see page 74.
N. Y. Times, Sept. 10, 1954, p. 25, col. 6.
The person in the above photograph is playing six cards or boards in a single game.
The detached sheets in the upper left corner will be used for the special games.
The ball marked 68 in the center of the photograph is drawn from the drum by
the person operating the game and appears here only for illustrative purposes.
states will undoubtedly follow suit. With the exception of a few states
such as Nevada, however, there seems to be no great public demand to
remove virtually all restrictions on gambling, particularly professional
gambling.
Consequently the present discussion is limited to the question as to
whether certain forms of gambling operated on a non-professional basis
by religious, charitable or fraternal organizations for laudable purposes
should be prohibited or merely regulated by law.4
It is proposed to examine the problem in the light of moral norms and
of legislative and judicial experience. Before the contours of workable
legislation may be suggested, however, some pertinent facts concerning
gambling should be considered and the moral norms should be defined.
For a good summary of the case against gambling casinos as they are operated in
Germany, see Ermecke, The State and Legalized Gambling, II Theology Digest 94
(1954).
This Wagering World
With the doubtful exception of the
Eskimo,' all contemporary societies are
characterized by the human aleatory urge.
Absence of money hardly explains the Eskimo's
lack of conformity, since his canoes, weapons
and jade could be staked. More primitive
societies, without monetary media, have
bequeathed archaelogists not only their own
but also the bones of animals
characteristically cubed and marked. The essential
humanity of the Eskimo, however, has been
established beyond reasonable doubt by
occasional cosmopolitan tribesmen who, having
mingled with white men and Indians, have
returned to exhibit the proof of their
conversion, cards and dice.
Elsewhere in the world where the climate
has perhaps less chilling effect on human
ardor, the problem of gambling is presented.6
Except in some Anglo-American areas,
governments have sought to monopolize, control,
regulate, license or tax gambling, but not to
prohibit it.
Such is the case of Monaco, capital of the
world's spinning industry since 1863, with its
%oths of a square mile of sovereignty on the
Mediterranean. Ten percent of its annual $3
million budget is raised by a tax in like
amount on the gross intake of Monte Carlo.
The casino belongs to an intricately organized
stock company euphemistically labeled The
Sea Bathing Society. Three-quarters of its
shares are distributed among 30,000
Frenchmen who cannot be wrong about this
investment. Sea Bathing stock has current capital
value of about $ (...truncated)