Section 185. Short title; purpose of article  


Latest version.
  • This article shall be known
      and may be cited as the games of chance licensing law.  The  legislature
      hereby declares that the raising of funds for the promotion of bona fide
      charitable,  educational,  scientific,  health,  religious and patriotic
      causes and undertakings, where the beneficiaries are undetermined, is in
      the public interest. It hereby finds that, as  conducted  prior  to  the
      enactment  of  this  article,  games  of  chance  were  the  subject  of
      exploitation  by  professional  gamblers,  promoters,   and   commercial
      interests.  It  is  hereby  declared to be the policy of the legislature
      that all phases of the supervision, licensing and regulation of games of
      chance and of  the  conduct  of  games  of  chance,  should  be  closely
      controlled  and  that the laws and regulations pertaining thereto should
      be strictly construed and rigidly enforced; that the conduct of the game
      and all  attendant  activities  should  be  so  regulated  and  adequate
      controls so instituted as to discourage commercialization of gambling in
      all  its forms, including the rental of commercial premises for games of
      chance, and to ensure a maximum availability  of  the  net  proceeds  of
      games  of  chance  exclusively  for application to the worthy causes and
      undertakings specified herein; that  the  only  justification  for  this
      article  is  to  foster and support such worthy causes and undertakings,
      and that the mandate of  section  nine  of  article  one  of  the  state
      constitution,  as amended, should be carried out by rigid regulations to
      prevent commercialized gambling, prevent participation by  criminal  and
      other  undesirable  elements and prevent the diversion of funds from the
      purposes herein authorized.