duty to enforce the provisions of said sections and such officers shall likewise enforce the provisions of said sections. [1945 c.374.]

176.90. Revocation of license and injunction against gambling devices.—(1) A license or permit issued under the provisions of this chapter or section 66.05 (10) to any person who shall thereafter knowingly suffer or permit any slot machine, roulette wheel, other similar mechanical gambling device, or number jar or other device designed for like form of gambling, to be set up, kept, managed, or used upon the licensed premises or in connection therewith upon premises controlled directly or indirectly by such person, shall be revoked by the circuit courts by a special proceeding as hereinafter provided. When a license or permit has been revoked no other license or permit of any character provided for by chapter 176 or section 66.05 (10) shall be issued to the person who held such license or permit prior to the expiration of 1 year from the effective date of such revocation. If any appeal shall be taken from such revocation, any period during which the order is stayed shall be added to the 1 year.

(2) Any sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, or other municipal police officer or any person authorized to enforce the gambling laws under the provisions of section 14.426 shall within 10 days after acquiring such information report to the district attorney of the county the name and address of any licensee or permittee under chapter 176 or section 66.05 (10) who to his knowledge has knowingly suffered or permitted any device to which reference is made in subsection (1) to be set up, kept, managed, or used upon the licensed premises or in connection therewith upon premises controlled directly or indirectly by such licensee or permittee. Such officer or person shall also report to the district attorney his knowledge of the circumstances and the name of the municipality or officer by whom the license or permit has been issued. Any other person may in writing and signed by that person report any such name, address, and other information to the district attorney. Within 10 days after any report to him the district attorney shall institute a proceeding as hereinafter provided before the circuit court of his county or shall within such time report to the attorney-general the reasons why such a proceeding has not been instituted. If thereafter the attorney-general shall so direct, the district attorney shall institute such proceeding within such reasonable time as the attorney-general shall direct unless the attorney-general elects to institute the proceeding, in which case he is authorized to do so.

(3) Such proceeding shall be in the name of the State and the issues may be determined by a jury. It shall be instituted by the filing of a petition and service of a notice as herein provided. The petition shall be directed to the circuit court and shall set forth a clear and concise statement of the grounds that are alleged to exist justifying a revocation of the license or permit under the provisions of subsection (1) hereof, and shall request an order revoking such license or permit. It shall also request an injunction restraining the defendant from thereafter knowingly suffering or permitting any such devices to be set up, kept, managed, or used upon premises directly or indirectly controlled by him. Upon the filing of such petition the court shall fix a time for hearing not to exceed 30 days from the date of filing at a place within the judicial circuit, and a copy of the petition and a notice of the time and place of hearing shall be served upon the defendant not less than 20 days prior to the date of hearing. Such service shall be made in the same manner as a summons is served in a civil action, except that it may also be made by leaving a copy of said petition and notice with any person charged with the operation

The

of the licensed premises under the provisions of section 176.05 (11). allegations of the petition shall be deemed controverted and shall be at issue without further pleading by the defendant. No hearing shall be adjourned except for cause. If upon such hearing the court shall find that the allegations of the petition are true, it shall issue a written order revoking the license or permit and shall likewise enjoin the defendant from thereafter knowingly suffering or permitting any gambling devices referred to in subsection (1) to be set up, kept, managed, or used upon premises directly or indirectly controlled by him. The district attorney shall forthwith cause a copy of the order to be filed with the issuing authority of the license or permit and shall cause a copy to be served upon the defendant as above provided or his attorney. The revocation and injunction shall become effective upon such service. In cases where a license is issued by a town, city, or village, a copy of the order shall also be filed with the tax division in the office of the State treasurer of taxation. (4) The law-enforcement officials referred to in subsection (2) hereof shall also report to the district attorney the names and addresses of persons other than licensees under chapter 176 or section 66.05 (10) who permit devices referred to in subsection (1) to be set up, kept, managed, or used upon premises controlled directly or indirectly by such persons. They shall also report their knowledge of the circumstances and the location of such premises. Thereupon the district attorney shall proceed as in the case of licensees or permittees, except that the only request of the petition shall be for the issuance of the injunction referred to in subsection (3) and the other required allegations shall be correspondingly changed. Such proceeding shall be had and such injunctional orders entered and served as are referred to in subsection (3).

(5) Violations of injunctional orders hereunder shall be punishable by the court as criminal contempts in accordance with the provisions of chapter 256. (6) Appeals may be taken from orders issued by the circuit court hereunder as in the case of special proceedings.

(7) Any proceeding instituted by a district attorney shall not be dismissed with his consent except upon the written approval of the circuit court.

(8) Any officer or employe referred to in subsection (2) or any district attorney who shall without proper excuse neglect or refuse to perform the duties required of him herein within such times as may be specified shall be subject to removal. The governor may remove any such sheriff or district attorney under the provisions of section 17.16 by filing a complaint on his own motion.

(9) A written record shall be kept by every officer and district attorney of reports made by or to him under subsection (2). On the first day of the third calendar month after the passage of this section the district attorney of each county shall report in writing to the governor the name, address, and office, if any, of each person who has reported to him knowledge of gambling devices under the provisions of subsection (2). He shall also set out the disposition of such reports and the status of all cases instituted thereon. Thereafter such a report shall be filed quarterly on the first days of January, April, July, and October in each year, and each report shall also set forth the status of cases not shown by any prior report to be finally determined.

(10) If any part of this section or its application to any person or circumstance shall be held invalid, the remaining part or its application to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected. [1945 c. 374; 1947 c. 362; 1949 c. 17.] NOTE. Chapter 374, laws of 1945, commonly known as the Thomson law, providing for a special proceeding, on petition of the State, for the revocation of the beer or liquor license of any person who knowingly permits any slot machine, etc., to be set up, etc., on the licensed premises, does not deny due process of law. State v. Coubal, 248 w. 247, 21 N. W. (2d) 381.

As to constitutionality of original draft of bill (87-A), (1945), which created this section and certain amendments, see 34 Atty. Gen. 87.

Under section 176.90 (9), district attorney has no duty to report to the governor the negative circumstance that he has not received reports of the presence of specified gambling devices within his county during the preceding quarter year. In the absence of such report, governor must presume the district attorney has done his duty, unless proof is received by governor or presence of such gambling devices in said county, and of district attorney's knowledge thereof. In the latter circumstance the governor may remove district attorney on his own complaint. 36 Atty. Gen. 307.

* * *

(Additional Note: Intoxicating liquors are defined elsewhere in the Wisconsin Statutes as "all ardent, spirituous, distilled, or vinous liquors containing one-half of 1 percent or more of alcohol by volume "except 'fermented malt beverages' as defined in section 66.054 which contain less than 5 per centum of alcohol by weight." Section 66.054 defines fermented malt beverages in such a way as to include beer and ale containing one-half of 1 percent or more of alcohol by volume.)

Report of Subcommittee on Municipal
Legislation

At a meeting of the Subcommittee on Municipal Legislation of United States Attorney General J. Howard McGrath's "Conference on Organized Crime," held March 15, 1950, Mr. John P. McGrath, corporation counsel of the city of New York undertook, as chairman of the subcommittee, to start the work of preparing a model statute controlling slot machines and gambling devices, to be recommended, after study by the subcommittee, for adoption in the cities of the United States.

Pursuant to the resolution of the subcommittee and at the request of Mr. McGrath, the American Municipal Association and the National Institute of Municipal Law Officers sent questionnaires to several hundred cities for information regarding their methods of dealing with the problem of slot machines and gambling devices.

An examination of the answers received in response to the questionnaires, revealed the existence of the following basic problems in combatting the evils of pinball and gambling devices:

1. The difficulty of proving that such devices were actually used for gambling at the time of seizure or arrest.

2. The difficulty of proving that such devices are based "predominantly" on chance, in those cases where skill is also a factor.

3. The difficulties arising out of the attendance of minors at places where licensed amusement devices are operated.

4. The difficulties arising out of the operation of licensed amusement devices in locations within the vicinity of schools, places of worship, playgrounds and parks; and

5. The difficulties arising from the operation of licensed amusement devices in candy stores, ice cream parlors, and other commercial establishments frequented by children.

The attached proposed model statute was drafted after a study of the many statutes and ordinances received through the survey and of numerous judicial and legal authorities, including the report entitled "Mechanical Amusement Devices-Juke Boxes-Cigarette Vending Machines," by Charles S. Rhyne. It was concluded that a combination of the features of the local law now operative in the city of New York and of the penal law now operative in the State of New York, together with certain modifications and additions suggested by the laws of other States and cities and by the model law in Mr. Rhyne's

report, would constitute the most effective statute for combatting the evils of gambling devices and coping with the difficulties outlined above.

Accordingly, the attached proposed model statute combines the following features:

1. It contains a legislative declaration that the manufacture, distribution, sale, possession, maintenance, and operation of gaming devices menace the public health, morals, safety, and general welfare of the community; that the lure of such devices is so great as to lead to the commission of crimes or the indulgence in vice by children and adults to procure the means with which to play the machines; that they stimulate and foster gambling among children and adults and breed crime, rackets, and gangsterism; that they are maintained and operated consistently and widely as a means of gambling by the public; and that the prohibition of the manufacture, sale, distribution, possession, maintenance, and operation of such devices is necessary to avert, prevent, and eliminate the foregoing evils and menace to the public welfare.

2. The proposed law prohibits the manufacture, sale, possession, maintenance, or operation of the following gaming devices:

(a) Any device, machine, or apparatus which is or may be operated as a result of the insertion of a coin or of any object for which a fee, charge, or other consideration is imposed, directly or indirectly, and which involves any element of chance inherent or intrinsic in the construction, operation, or arrangement of the device regardless of the amount or degree of such element of chance.

(b) Any device, machine, or apparatus whether manually, mechanically, electrically, or otherwise operated, and whether or not affixed or attached or installed in any premise or place in and upon which a game may be played by one or more persons singly or collectively, upon payment of a fee, charge, or other consideration directly or indirectly and which involves any element of chance inherent or intrinsic in the construction, operation, or arrangement of such machine or apparatus, regardless of the amount or degree of such element of chance.

(c) Any machine or apparatus of the type, design, class, or construction commonly known as pinball or bagatelle upon which a game is or may be played upon payment of a fee, charge, or other consideration directly or indirectly.

3. The proposed law makes it a misdemeanor to violate this prohibition and provides for a punishment by a fine of not more than $500 and imprisonment for not more than 1 year or both.

4. The proposed law further provides that if a violation occurs on any premises licensed pursuant to any other law or in the course of any business or occupation licensed pursuant to any other law, a con