City Hall Targets Gambling Rings
A proposed municipal ordinance seeks to criminalize everything from card games to 'bunko' schemes.
Council Bill No. 97, introduced by Mr. Harper, is intended to substitute the following for Section 1268 of the Code of Washington: Any person who shall keep a house, shop or place, resorted to for the purpose of gambling, or permit or suffer any person in any shop, house or other place under his control or care to play at cards, dice, faro, roulette, equality or other game for money... shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail not more than six months... And any person who shall carry on any chuck-a-luck, bunko shop, sling, panel house or other swindling game, shall be deemed guilty of a felony.
“Any person who shall carry on any chuck-a-luck, bunko shop, sling, panel house or other swindling game, shall be deemed guilty of a felony.”
Early Seattle politics were dominated by the struggle to regulate the 'vice' industry, which was both a source of local revenue and a target for reform-minded politicians. This bill illustrates the transition from a Wild West frontier economy toward more formal municipal governance and criminal codes.
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