Opinion No. 14-1313
September 3, 1914
TO: Mr. A. W. Hockenhull, Clovis, New Mexico.
BUCKET SHOP.
Operation of a "bucket shop" not gambling within meaning of statute.
OPINION
{*171} I have just received your letter of the 1st inst. asking whether the operation of what is known as a "bucket shop," dealing in contracts for future deliveries, presumably fictitious, would be in violation of the laws of New Mexico.
From a hasty examination of authorities, I find that it has been held that such operations are not to be considered as gambling within the meaning of statutes like ours, which prohibit playing at any game of chance for things of value. I cannot say either that the lottery statute to which you refer, would have any effect upon this sort of business. My recollection is that at one time ten or twelve years ago, there was someone in Albuquerque who did operate such a business and I never heard of any suggestion that it was in violation of any statute of New Mexico.