"FIND THE BALL" CONTEST DECLARED LOTTERY

Chronicle (Levin), 3 December 1947, Page 5

"FIND THE BALL" CONTEST DECLARED LOTTERY

AUCKLAND, Dec. 2. The liolding of tlie "Find the Bait" competition conducted by the newspaper, the Auckland Star, was a game of chance. klr. Justice Blair ' in his judgment delivered today dismissed tlie appeals by the New Zealand Newspapers, Ltd., and Urie Vernon Dumbleton, managing editor of tlie Auckland Star. His Honour said the two appeals were from the decision of the Magistrate at Auckland. In the first ease ihe appellant coutpany, tlie publishers of the Star, were charged with using its premises as a eonimon ggming house. In the seeond ease the managing editor of the Star was charged with assisting the New Zealand Newspapers, Ltd., in the management of a eonimon gaming house. In tlie first ease the defendant company was fined £10 and in the seeond ease the managing editor was eonvictea, tlie question of penalty being reserved by the Afagi,strate. His Honour said that his view was that the "Fii.d the Ball" seheme was clearly a schei.ie for betting, It could not be called a game of skill. Finding tlie exact spot on the picture in the uewspaper wlieu the footbal) had appeared in the original photograph was a inatter'of the merest chance. The probleni was not oue pf mathematics, but pure guesswork. His Honour added that every entrant betted the sum of fid with the promoter of the seheme, and with all other entrants, tliat he could guess the correct position of the ball. For the No. 0 contest there were 30,000 entrauts, and the share which wcnt to the B'eritage Movement was about £315, less the share of tlie eost of clerical work. Tlie winner of tlie competition, if there were only one, wo.uld have received aliout £585, but if tliere were more than one winner- each would share in the division o'f that prize. These considerations had a marked bean'ng on the question of whether the seheme was a game of skill or a lottery, which, m liis Ilonour 'a view, it undoubtedly was.