Gaming and Wagering : TEN COMMANDMENTS:

1. The contract of gaming and wagering is an agreement between two persons to pay
money or its equivalent on the determination or ascertainment of an uncertain event. "The
essence of wagering is that one party is to win and the other to lose event, which at the time
of the contract is of an uncertain nature, that is to say, if an event turns out one way, A (e.g.
Fred) will lose, but if it other way he will win" (Anson, Law of Contract, P. 221)

2. In gaming, the event on which stakes are laid is the result of skill. In wagering, the
event is supposed to be beyond the power of the contracting parties. In gaming, the elements
of pastime and stake are essential; in wagering, only a stake is involved.

3. That these contracts may be morally just, even though they are illegal, the chances of
winning must be equal on both sides.

4. If A bets with money stolen from B, and having nothing either actually or in prospect,
the contract is null and void. If he wins he cannot justly keep the money; if he loses, the party
who has won cannot justly keep the money.

5. It is obvious that fraud employed during a game of skill renders the contract void.

6. Betting on a certainty is no contract; the winner is bound to hand back what he has
won. But if A foolishly insists on betting with B, who states that he is betting on a certainty,
then A is making a gift.

7. A bet offered or taken on an immoral matter is null, but when a bet has been won, and
the money has passed, there is probably no obligation to restore it to the loser.

8. Betting is not in itself sinful. If a man can afford money to bet, he is using money for
legitimate excitement and the chances of winning. But betting becomes sinful when the
money laid is due to other purposes, or when probable losses would prevent a man from
fulfilling his duties, or when betting is carried to excess. Sweepstakes can be defended on the
same grounds. But betting easily becomes an infatuation and is especially deplorable and to
be condemned in the case of the young, of schoolchildren, and of workmen who require all
the money they get to maintain their families.

9. The State has the right to regulate betting by laws, to put sane limits on the practice.

10. A bet that is lost must be paid out, even though not legally enforced; if it was laid
under the conditions above.