Hon. Homer Garrison Jr. Opinion No, O-3031
Director, DepartmenJ of
Public Safety Re: Whether "Nestegg Night"' is
Camp Mabry a violation of the lottery
Austin, Texas law.
Dear Sir:
This will acknowledge receipt of your letter of
Jan. 8, 1941, requesting the opinion of this Department as to
whether or not "Nestegg Night" constitutes a violation of the
lottery laws of this State, Article 6.54 of the Penal Code,
A circular enclosed with your letter reads as fol-
lows:
"FEATHERYOUHNEST wfth $30000 OP more
VESTEGG EVWY THURSDAY NIGHT NESTEGG
Nite IS "NESTEGGNITEn AT NITE
TH!&GUILDTHEATRE FEATHWYOUR
Crystal City, Texas NEST
"The ONestegg" is never less than $30*00
"If YOU are present and have signed the Application
for Spare Time work 0 ., 0 and your Application is the one
selected you will "FEATHERYOURNESTBwith $30,00 or
more O
'IIf the party selected is not present on 'NESTEGG
NITEn the 'NESTEGG'will be increased $lO,OO for the next
'NESTEGGN1TE.O
"It is only necessary to sign one (1) Application,
as the name will always remain on file 0 ., o even if you
are selected YOURNUMBER will be placed back fn the hopper
and YOU can be selected at some future tfme,
"REMEMHEB 0 o o WE PLACEYOU ON OURPAY-ROLL o o e
and deduct Social Security Taxes only,
"In addition we pay our share of Taxes under the
Hon. Homer Garrison, Jr., page 2
Social Security Act which wlll~increase YOUBbenefits
under the Old Age Fund.
We will select a number from the hopper, then
refer to the Appllcatlon file and call the name. . .
If the party is present you make yourself known by
answering to the name called and come forward to the
stage . . . BE PBESENTTYOURSMAYBE THE ONESELECTED.
“FIRST SELECTION:THUBSDAY
NIGHT, JANUARY25th - 8830
P.M.’
An appllcatlon card likewise enolosed is in the
f ollewlng f 0lvn:
“NESTEGG NESTEGG
NITE NITE
FEATHEiRYOUHNEST FEA!l%ERYOURNBST
GUILDTHEA!l!BE CRYSTALCITY, TEXAS
“1 hereby file my application for spare time work.
Name. . . . . . . . . . . . o . o . . . . . . e . . .
Bddrasa. . . . . . . . . . . * . 0. . e . . . . .
Telephone . . . . . . D o . . . . . . . . . . .
And in conneotlon with these exhibits you state that:
nit aeems that this~ theatre paasea out the enclosed
card to persons who purohase a ticket, on which the pur-
chaser makes appllcatlon for spare time work. Tlcketa
am then drawn one night each week and the winner, If
present, recrives not less than 838.00, Of aourse it
Is oompulsory that the winner be in the theatre be&r
he would be entitled to the m~nep.~
From this we have aoncludea that this scheme is un-
distinguishable from the %ovie arlticU scheme, held to constl-
tute a violation of our lottery laws In opinion No. O-54, aopy
of which Is enclosed; and for the reasons set forth end under
the authorities there cited you are advised that the operation
of “Nestegg NightU by the theatre in question under the plan
described will be a violation of Article 654 of the Penal Code.
APPROVED JAN 18, 1941 Yours very truly
/s/ Gerald C. Mann ATTORNEY GEK&ElAL
OF TEXAS
ATTORNEY GGNERAL OF TEXAS By /s/ James D. Smullen
APPROVED:OPINIONCOMMITTEE James Do Smullen, Assistant
By /s/ BWB, Chairman
JDS: AMM:uaz, ENCLOSURE
Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion
Combined Opinion