When a Lottery Oversteps the Law
Clearly Defined by Post Office
Lotteries of one sort or another
have been the tried means of rais
ing money of organizations
throughout the country. The gov
eminent, of course, has frowned
any sort of gambling, and lot
teries naturally came under the
category.
The use of the mails for pro
moting lotteries comes especially
wider the scrutiny of the Post Of
fice Department. When is a lot
tery not a lottery is the question
to be determined. Answers to
many questions in this connection
are given in a new brochure sup
plied by the Pest Office Depart
ment.
Lotteries always have three ele
ments—“ chance, consideration
and! prize.” But it is sometimes
difficult to determine when all of
these elements are present. There
have been some interesting court
decisions on whether “considera
tion” is present. For example,
where one must visit several stores
to see if a prize has been won,
this alone is not enough “consider
ation” to make the scheme a lot
tery. Neither does registration at
a store for a free drawing or re
quired attendance at the drawing
make the promotion a lottery.
The question of whether another
major element of the lottery —
"chance”—is present is also dif
ferent to determine in many cases
For example, there has been in
years past a legal question wheth
er chance was involved when the
prize amount was not definitely
determined in advance. A .Su
preme Court decision now holds
such schemes do involve “chance.”
There is one type of lottery,
dear to the heart of Alaskans—
"Bingo”—where there is no ques
when in
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tioo that chance is involved. Us
ually, consideration and prize are
present, and it becomes a lottery.
On the other hand, “skill,” rath
er than chance, is present legally
in the familiar “best letter con
test” where the entrant writes
50 words or lesson why he likes a
specific product. Until recently,
guessing the beans in a jar had
been held to be partly skill, be
cause a skilled mathematician
could approximate the number of
beans. But a change in the law
put bean guessing into the possi
ble lottery category. Of course,
the scheme still is not a lottery if
there is no “consideration” charg
ed to enter.
On the other hand, a fishing
contest — which, as most fisher
men will concede, involves some
chance — are exempted by law
from lottery classification if not
conducted, even where there are
fishing license fees and prizes or
trophies.
Besides the question about
chance, consideration and prizes,
lotteries raise interesting ques
tions about what may be publish
ed concerning them. For example,
(he term “advertisement” applies
to any newspaper notice relative
to a lottery, whether it is a paid
ad or a news item. The law says
newspapers which contain any list
of lottery prizes cannot be car
ried in the mails. This makes
newspapers unmailable when they
contain names of Irish Sweep
stake winners. This applies also, of
course, to announcements of win
ners in other lotteries. An exam
ample of this is Alaska’s own
classic, the Nenana Ice Pool.
Bingo, as already explained, is a
lottery and cannot be advertised
in any matter carried through the
mails. Even is there is no men
tion of the name of the game, and
the advertisement merely carries
the word “party” or “games,” or
the familiar “$” sign, the matter
is still unmailable.
However, an exception from the
general rule about lottery infor
mation has been made for news
paper articles which have a news
value in their own right, where the
lottery element is only incidental
The reader may wonder at
times why the earth-shaking event
of winning a car or radio or a big
sum of money does not appear in
the newspapers, yet these occur
rences in connection with radio
and TV programs make the head
lines regularly. It should be
stressed that it is necesssary for
all three elements—prize,, chance,
and consideration, be present in a
plan in order for it to be held a
lottery.,
What makes it so difficult is that
life itself is made up of these
three elements, and there are
those who contend it, too, is a lot
tery.
NOTICE
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of Kodiak holds services & Sun
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