245 Pa. 224 | Pa. | 1914
Opinion by
In 1904 the defendants were engaged in the business of gambling upon wagers or bets that the market value of certain stocks would rise or fall as evidenced by quotations from the New York Stock Exchange. The business did not contemplate the purchase or sale of shares
We have no quarrel with tbe doctrine of tbe cases cited
It is equally well settled in this jurisdiction that all mere wagering contracts are illegitimate transactions which the law declares void and which will not be enforced at the instance of either party to the contract. It will not aid the winner to recover from the loser the amount of the stake, and it will not give assistance to the loser to recover back the amount of the bet after the transaction has been closed. It will leave the parties as it finds them. The law will not attempt to settle disputes between gamblers by enforcing their alleged rights arising out of the illegal transaction.
This was not a case of marginal dealings in which a broker purchased and sold stocks for his customer. It is not pretended that such was the purpose of the contract entered into between the plaintiff and the defendants. The latter carried on what is known as a “Bucket Shop” in which the real transaction was a daily settle: ment of differences in the fluctuations of the prices of stocks on the New York Stock Exchange. No stocks were purchased or sold by the defendants for or on ac,-, count of customers. This was well known by the plaintiff. The plaintiff, deposited with the defendants a cer
This is not an action brought by the loser in a gambling transaction against a stakeholder to recover the amount of the deposit before the transaction is closed and the amount paid to the winner. The defendants were not stakeholders of the funds deposited with them in the sense which would permit a recovery by the loser in an undetermined or unexecuted gambling transaction. The plaintiff and defendants were both parties to the illegal contract. The money deposited by the plaintiff with the defendants was a wager upon the fluctuations of the prices of certain specified stocks. This deposit was made with the defendants to secure them in their winnings. They could have trusted the plaintiff to pay his debt if he lost but they did not intend to take any such chance. They, therefore, made themselves secure by requiring the deposit. When the bet was won by the defendants it automatically passed to and went into the possession of the defendants. The transaction was then closed and the defendants no longer held the deposit awaiting the happening of the contingency which determined their right to the deposit. They were not stakeholders who were disinterested in the result of the bet and who held the fund for the successful party to the wagering contract. They were parties to the illegal transaction and held the deposit as winners of the bet. This action, therefore, was brought by one party against the other party to a gambling transaction which the law declares void and which it will not enforce in aid of either party.
The judgment is affirmed.