State v. Baitler

This case was reported on an agreed statement of facts. The complaint charges, and the respondent denies, by his plea of not guilty, that he permitted gambling in a place under his control. R. S., Chap. 136, Sec. 1. The determinative question is whether an automatic vending machine that he had in his restaurant, where patrons used it, was also a device producing things of value, by chance. R. S., Chap. 136, Sec. 18.

In return for a nickel, the machine delivered, with certainty, to every customer, a package of candy mints, of equivalent retail value. At the same time, and by the same operation,…