§ 185 — Short title; purpose of article

§ 185. Short title; purpose of article. This article shall be known\nand may be cited as the games of chance licensing law. The legislature\nhereby declares that the raising of funds for the promotion of bona fide\ncharitable, educational, scientific, health, religious and patriotic\ncauses and undertakings, where the beneficiaries are undetermined, is in\nthe public interest. It hereby finds that, as conducted prior to the\nenactment of this article, games of chance were the subject of\nexploitation by professional gamblers, promoters, and commercial\ninterests. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the legislature\nthat all phases of the supervision, licensing and regulation of games of\nchance and of the conduct of games of chance, should be closely\ncontrolled and that the laws and regulations pertaining thereto should\nbe strictly construed and rigidly enforced; that the conduct of the game\nand all attendant activities should be so regulated and adequate\ncontrols so instituted as to discourage commercialization of gambling in\nall its forms, including the rental of commercial premises for games of\nchance, and to ensure a maximum availability of the net proceeds of\ngames of chance exclusively for application to the worthy causes and\nundertakings specified herein; that the only justification for this\narticle is to foster and support such worthy causes and undertakings,\nand that the mandate of section nine of article one of the state\nconstitution, as amended, should be carried out by rigid regulations to\nprevent commercialized gambling, prevent participation by criminal and\nother undesirable elements and prevent the diversion of funds from the\npurposes herein authorized.\n