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Irish Republic
Gambling is controlled by the gaming and lotteries act of 1956. All games in which the odds between the banker and the player are unequal, and all slot machines, are forbidden. Side-show games (costing the players the equivalent of seven cents) at circuses and fairs are permitted provided that no player can win more than the equivalent of $1.40. Gambling poker games can only be played on licensed premises.
There are no football pools or casinos. Lotteries can organized, providing it can be proved that they are for charitable or philanthropic purposes. The total value of prizes must not exceed $1400.
The Irish Hospitals Sweepstakes is the main gambling enterprise, and its tickets are sold (often illegally) throughout the world. (The Irish Sweepstakes was first held in 1930 to improve the financial situation of the hospitals.) Two thirds of the profit goes to the hospitals, one third to the ministry for Local Government and Public Health. In 1962, 7099 prizes were awarded, totaling about $6,000,000. Winnings are tax free.
Bookmaking on horse and dog races is legal in Ireland: 540 bookmakers’ licenses were issued in 1960.
Israel
There is some pool betting on football matches, thought not a great deal. Lotteries are banned in principle, but (with state permission) may be held for charity. There is no leal prohibition of private betting, though legislation concerning this is under discussion at the time of writing (1963). Gambling houses are not allowed.
Gambling activities are controlled by the Criminal Code Ordinance of 1936, which states that anyone setting up a casino, a gaming house, or a lottery is liable to prosecution. Three organizations are permitted to hold regular lotteries: They are the “Mafia Papayas,” the “Red Shield of David” (which corresponds to the Red Cross), and the “Committee for the Soldier.” The most important of these is the mif’al Hapayis, a non-profit-making company sponsored by the government and local authorities: It turns a weekly lottery, and the net proceeds are allotted to local authorities for building hospitals, dispensaries, and schools. Disabled people are employed to sell state lottery tickets.
Italy
In general, gambling is forbidden in any public place, or in any club or private house. But in places like San Remo, campione, Venice, and St. Vinvent (in the Aosta valley) casinos are permitted. These are subject to strict controls –and to an annual governmental tax that is the equivalent of about $96,000. Roulette, trente-et-quarante, and baccarat are played.
A state-controlled lottery is drawn each week. Winning lucky number are published by the press and announced over the wireless. In 1962, a total of about $81,000,000 was gambled on the lottery, and of this about $37,000,000 were paid out in prizes. Four other lotteries are organized and administered directly by the state. (These are controlled by a decree of August 4, 1955.) In 1962 about $4,500,000 was spent on these lotteries and $1,500,000 were given out in prizes.
Betting in pools on football and horse racing is controlled by a legislative decree of April 1948. These pools are organized by the state. The only exceptions are for those connected with sports – such as Totocalcio and Tolip – which are controlled, respectively, by the Italian National Olympic Committee and by the National Union for the improvement of the breeding of horses.
Italian law permits totalizators betting on horse and dog racing, which is controlled by the authority of Public Safety, according to a law passed in May 1940.
Japan
Most forms of private gambling are forbidden, though the sale of government-sponsored lottery tickets and betting on race and cycle tracks has been legalized. (There is also legal gambling on motorboat racing, and on motorcycle racing.) More money is bet on bicycle racing (the equivalent of about $165,000,000 annually) than on any other type of officially sanctioned racing, and authorized cycle tracks are found in all major cities. (Sometimes as many as 12 races take place daily on every track.) Local government authorities sponsor these races to raise money for the construction of houses and schools. Income derived from gambling on horse races is spent on the improvement of horse breeding and the importing of thorough breds.
It has been estimated that bookmakers earn more than $16,500,000 a year, despite the fact that private bookmaking was banned in 1955. The total amount of money gambled in 1961 on horse racing was about $93,300,800; of this, about $76,729,000 was paid out in prizes.
The game pachinko was introduced to Japan in 1950: Soon after, authorized pachinko gambling houses began to attract many gamblers.
Kenya
According to the 1954 Report on Betting, Gaming, and swedish state Lottery, gambling in Kenya is not excessive. Betting is principally on horse racing, but since there are only 23 days of horse racing in Kenya each year (apart from some small-scale meetings) the volume of betting is usually no more than the equivalent of about $180,000 a year. (Money is also bet, however, on overseas racing.) Bookmakers must be licensed by the Betting Control Board.
Football pools and dog racing are both illegal. Lotteries, though legal, are run on a comparatively small scale. In 1949, for example, the total expenditure on lotteries was only about $150,000. The main lotteries are organized by a social service league and a youth league. Tickets for several overseas lotteries (such as the Irish Hospitals Sweepstakes) are also sold.
Luxembourg
All kinds of gambling were forbidden by a law of 1903, which is still in force. It is also illegal to operate a gambling premises, to permit gambling on your premises, or to advertise gambling in any way (which includes advertising overseas gambling).
Malaya
Betting on horse racing, lotteries, and numbers games, slot machines, poker and canasta, dominoes and dice, are all popular forms of gambling-though many of them are illegal. In 1952 all lotteries were declared illegal (except when run for charitable purposes and authorized by the Financial Secretary). In 1953 an act was passed banning common gambling houses and other forms of public gambling. Police offices were authorized to arrest anyone found in a suspected gambling place.
It was also made an offense to bet with a bookmaker or to act as a bookmaker on the premises of any club. Betting on horse races now takes place at the turf clubs of Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, and Penang, and members of these clubs may bet legally through totalizators.
Chup ji kee is a very popular gambling game in Singapore; one estimate give the daily expenditure as the equivalent of about $250,000. In this game the promoter chooses a name or a number (which the bettor must guess) from a list and places it in a locked box. He then gives the bettors a riddle, which is supposed to serve as a clue. Winners are paid at 100 to 1. The numbers game is also extremely popular and results are published in the daily press. Players can win 700 times their original stake (of 20 cents).
Mexico
An act of 1947 made public casino gambling a federal offense. This law has been rigidly enforced, and penalties for infringing it include prison sentences from one month to three years, and fines from the equivalent of about $40 to $800. Raffles and state lotteries are permitted, as is betting on races and sports events (when carried out under official supervision). Most horse racing takes place on tracks in and around Mexico City.
New Zealand
Off0track betting on horse racing has been legal since 1950. Official figures for 1957 show that whereas the on-track betting turnover was the equivalent of $64,680,000, off-track betting brought in $65,240,000. The only legal make an off-track bet is through the country.) Five per cent of the gross totalizator off-track takings goes to the state.
Lotteries may be run providing they are licensed by the ministry of Internal Affairs (and providing they are for educational or welfare purposes). All casinos and common gaming house are illegal, and police are entitled to search suspected premises. Betting on sports or athletic events is also illegal , as a private betting in public: Offenders are liable to be imprisoned for three months, or to be fined $280. In 1959, gambling on bingo was made legal, and is now one of the country’s most popular gambles.
Nigeria
Lotteries, sweepstakes, cards, dice, and other gambling games are all widely played in Nigeria without any legislative control. Football-pool promoters, however, must obtain licenses. Betting at the race tracks is common in the west of Nigeria, but not in the east. The western region also runs a state-controlled lottery of its own.
Norway
Football pools, horse races, and state-sponsored lottery draw the major amount of gambling money. In 1952 the equivalent of about $6,850,000 was gambled on the state lottery: In 1962 the sum had almost trebled –to approximately $18,000,000.
Peru
Gambling is mainly on horse races (held on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the year at the Hipodromo de monterrico), cockfighting (held on Sundays and holidays in various local arenas), and on lotteries. A sweepstake, called La Polla, is also run every Sunday by the Jockey American Club .
The Lima lottery is drawn every month, and the first prize is usually the equivalent of about $40,000. Special drawings are also held at Christmas and on the national holidays (July 28-30), when the first prize is greatly increased. The lottery is government – controlled, and proceeds go to hospitals and national charities. In additions there are the arequipa, cuzco, Trujillo, and Huancayo lotteries. All these pay weekly prizes of about $4000. The amount invested weekly on horse racing is about $262,500.
Most private gambling games are illegal, though dice games are played in many private clubs. Bingo is organized legally by public welfare institutions.
Poland
The Totalizator Sportowy is the main gambling enterprise: It has 17 main branches, and 1733 sub-branches. This organizations controls the Toto Lotek (the national lottery) and the football pools. The total income from bets on the toto lotek in 1962 was the equivalent of about $40,000,000. Fifty per cent of the total amount staked goes in prizes. The rest (after deduction of working costs, management expenses, etc.) goes into a sports fund.
Organizations, institutions, and commercial enterprises also run small lotteries. (These require a state permit.) There is also a lottery system organized on bank savings accounts; prizes take the place of regular interest. The depositor chooses the size of the account he wishes to have according to the prize he wishes to gamble for. A form of the numbers game has also gained a national following.
All horse racing is state-controlled.
Portugal
Gambling is controlled by the Games Inspection Council, which supervises the running of casinos and submits proposals to the minister of the Interior for the regulation of gambling.
A law passed in 1956 legalized on-track totalizator gambling at horse races, and a low of 1958 permitted the operation of casinos in specific localities. (There is a particularly large casino, open all the year, at Estoril.) Football pools and sports pools are controlled by the Santa Casa de misericordia, which also holds the monopoly on the national lottery,
South Africa
The only legalized form of gambling is on horse races, and this is regulated by different “ordinances” in the various provinces. All bets must be made through totalizators on licensed race courses.
Despite their illegality, most card and dice games are popular. A gambling act of 1939 declared pin-tables, slot machines, and lotteries to be illegal. And the Sports Pools Act of 1949 laid down that “nobody should begin or have any financial interest in any organization conducting a sports pool.”
All colored people are forbidden to gamble in any way.
Sweden
Gambling is chiefly on horse races, football matches, and the national lottery. Horse pools are run by the organizers of a number of horse and trotting tracks. The most popular of these pools is the “V.5 pool” (the “v” is short for vad, which means “a wage”) in which bettors aim to back the winners in five races.
The total turnover for betting on horse races in Sweden in 1962 was the equivalent of about $77,000,000. This money was placed with off-track bookmakers and though totalizators. (On-track bookmaking is not permitted.)
In 1934, a special authority was set up and granted a monopoly for organizing betting on football matches. Now most of the profits go directly into the state treasury. The total turnover of money bet on football matches in 1961 was about $38,400, 000. During the winter, betting is on British football matches.
A Swedish national lottery ticket costs $2.80. In 1961, $55, 609,000 were spent on lottery tickets.
Switzerland
It is illegal to gamble on horse racing, or to organize a private lottery, or to operate a casino; nor are any gambling machines permitted. Football pools are legal, and lotteries are organized in the various cantons. But they must have government authorization, and all proceeds must go to charity. Lottery winnings are tax free.
Boule was made legal in Switzerland in 1924. Stakes are limited to the equivalent of 46 cents. The federal government takes a quarter of all profits from boule and uses the gaming money to provide help to the victims of national catastrophes (such as floods, fires, or train crashes). Between 1928 and 1954, the government collected about $1,840,000 from boule taxes.
Tanganyika
Nearly all gambles for money are illegal. Raffles and lotteries are permitted, providing the organizers obtain permission from the commissioner of police. Football pools are also legal, but bets must be made through a ‘licensed agent of the U.K. football pools firms, domiciled in Tanganyika. ”A pools tax of 10 per cent of the total stake money was instituted in 1961: It is estimated that the government receives an income of the equivalent of approximately $14,000 yearly from this tax.
Thailand
Gambling is regulated by a gaming act of 1935, which outlawed the organization of any gambling enterprise without a government license. The penalty for violating this law is a fine equaling $100, or one year’s imprisonment.
Gambling is permitted on 15 specified games, including cockfighting, fish fighting, horse racing, lotteries, mah-jongg, and dominoes. Gambling is not permitted on 41 specified games, among which are slot machines, baccarat, bingo, poker, and games involving cruelty to animals (such as tortoise racing, in which fires are lit on the animals’ backs to increase their speed).
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
By an act of 1928 all private gambling was forbidden in Russia. The State operates a lottery, and organizes public betting through totalizators at horse races. The tote makes an annual profit of the equivalent of about $280,000. Off-track betting is forbidden. All bets are to win only (horses cannot be backed each way) and bets must be made in units of 50 cents, $1, and $2. Tote odds on a winner are usually even money or 2 to 1.
Russian newspapers carry no racing information, and bettors have to be guided by a race card giving the names of the horses (and some information on past performance) and details of the jockey’s abilities.
United Arab Republic
On-track betting on horse racing and betting on pigeon shooting (when these events are held on authorized premises) is permitted in Egypt. Gambling casinos exits, but Arab nationals are not permitted to enter them: Would-be bettors must produce evidence of foreign nationality. Backgammon is played in street cafés, but baccarat, bingo, chemin-de-fer, and canasta are among the games encyclopedia prohibited in clubs and public establishments. Anyone breaking the gambling laws is liable to a heavy fine or to imprisonment for one to three years.
United States of America
Gambling laws in America vary from state to state. In general, though, games of chance for money, gambling establishments, etc., are illegal. But on-track pari-mutuel betting on horse races is legal in most states. And there are exceptions: Practically all forms of gambling are legal in Nevada; New Hampshire established a legal state lottery in April 1963 (to raise money for public schools); bingo and raffles (under strict state control) are legal in New Jersey, New York, colorado, Nebraska, and Alaska; and most states permit small-scale raffles held for charity, and often carnival games for small stakes.
The exact amount of money spent annually on illegal gambling in the United States is not known. However, it is certain that the American people spend almost as much on gambling as on medical care or education. America’s Attorney General Robert kennedy recently gave as a rock-bottom estimate a gross turnover of $7,000,000,000. Other experts have put the figure as high as $50,000,000,000.
Most of the money is bet on horse racing through illegal bookies. The extent of the crooked bookmaker’s business is indicated by an estimate made by the magazine Nation in 1959: The annual racing turnover in New York City alone was given as $1,330,000,000. This is five times the sum of money bet legally in the same year at all the New York tracks and makes the illicit bookmaking business rank as the largest single industry in New York. It has been estimated that there are about 30,000 bookies in New York.
Police investigations show that illegal bookmaking is big business all over the nation: In Florida bookies handle around $250,000 in bets daily. The records of an Indiana bookmaker (according to Robert Kennedy) showed that he had taken a total of $1,156,000 in bets over a three-day period; a Chicago bookie’s records showed that he had taken a total of $6,400,000 in bets in one year; a Tennessee bookie had taken $1,689,000 in five months.
The big illegal three card monte gamblers often use their profits to invest in other criminal enterprises such as narcotics, bootlegging, and prostitution, and to keep the law at bay with bribes. In 1951, the Kefauver Senate Committee hearings on crime found that one gambling ring in Philadelphia was paying an annual bribe of $2,000,000 for police protection. (Some gamblers pay up to $3500 to have their police records altered.)
A conservative estimate has placed the illegal policy (or numbers) game in the $1,000,000,000 a year class. (According to Robert Kennedy, one pennsylvania policy operator collected $587,000 in seven months.) In 1957, nearly 12,000 people were convicted on policy-game charges.
Slot machines are legal in five American States- Nevada, Montana, Washington (in private clubs), Idaho, and Maryland. It is estimated that in 1961 more than 2000 licensed slot machines were operating in more than 200 establishments in Maryland. In Maryland’s largest casino, the “Pot of Gold,” 233 machines are housed in one building and in Charles County alone, the gross receipts for slot machines (in 1959) totaled $4,544,000.
In 1962, three new gambling laws came into effect: Interstate gambling was made a federal crime, the transmission of bets between states by wire or telephone was made a felony, and the interstate transportation of betting paraphernalia (policy slips, slot machines, and so on) was also made a felony. As a result of these laws, the nation’s leading bookies’ wire services (which communicated the latest race results and odds to bookmakers all over the country) were forced to close down.
At the time of writing (1963) the New York City authorities are proposing to legalize (and tax) off-track betting on horse races.
West Germany
The state lottery attracts the greatest amount of gambling money. But there is also wide-spread betting on horse races and football pools; as well as in casinos and slot-machine halls. In 1961, state-run and state –authorized gambling enterprises brought in the equivalent of about $425,000,000. This sum (10 times the amount gambled legally in 1950) yielded the government a tax revenue of $71,250,000. Of this $57,500,000 were derived from the lotteries $6,000,000 from the football pools, $5,000,000 from totalizators, and $2,750,000 from the bookmakers.
There are more than 1000 lottery agencies in West Germany that sell tickets for the two main lotteries, the North German lottery (with 60 annual drawings ) and the South West German king queen british lottery (with 84 annual drawings). Only hall of the money spent on the lotteries (or on the football pools) is paid out in winnings. Of the remaining half, a third toward administrative costs. In 1959 the sum of $12,500,000 was given to sports organizations and $6,250,000 to social and cultural enterprises.
West Germany has more than 13,000 betting shops where bets can be laid on horse races and football matches. (In Bavaria alone, there are 1600 of these shops.) West Germany also has many gambling halls (called spielhallen)that contain slot machines, and has many small casinos where some card games can be played. Frankfurt there are about 2000 gambling machines, which pay the local government some $250,0900 a year in taxes.