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PROVISIONS OF KENTUCKY BETTING BILL. Lexington. Ky.. March 4.— The Wilhelm anti-IKxdroom hill, known as senate bill No. 41, passed the senate at Frankfort today by a vote of : 3 to 4, and there is very little probability that it will not be passed unanimously in th« house and it will eertainly be signed by Governor Willson when It comes to him. It is one of the strongest bills ever drafted In this or any other state for the regulation of betting on horse races and there is little likelihood of persons being able to evade any of its provisions. The first section of the bill prohibits all persons from providing any place in which bets can be laid on any race in or out of the state or to aid others in so doing and provides a penalty of both line and imprisonment, the tine not to exceed ,000 and imprisonment not to exceed one year and each day such room or place Is maintained constitutes a separate otfense. The second section applies to handbooks and to employes of any poolroom or handbook and provides the same tine and imprisonment for any persons acting as agents or employes. Each day they so act also constitutes a separate offense. Section three covers persons or corpora tions who may lease or rent premises for any such purposes with penalties similar to that in section one. Section four provides for the punishment of persons who patronize such roouis. The penalty is from ten to thirty days in the county jail, but no flue. Section live provides a penalty for all officers vested with police lowers who wilfully fail to enforce the provisions of the act. This penalty is very severe, embracing confinement in a county jail for from sis months to one year, the forfeiture of his office and subsequent ineligibility to hold any other office within the gift of the commonwealth. The last and shortest section of the act, section mx. reads as follows: "The provisions of this act shall not apply to inclosures wherein horse racing is conducted under license from the State Racing Commission, and it shall not apply to inclosures wherein trotting or pacing races are lieing eon-ducted by regularly organized associations for that pur|Kse." Thus it will be seen that the bill places racing in this state upon the plane that it is desired to have it in the state of New York. Poolrooms and baud-books will hardly be operated in Kentucky when such extremely severe penalties are provided and law officers are forced to take notice or kise their offi.es and spend a year in jail. The sentiment of the memliers of the legislature for this bill, as shown by the vote in the senate today, is such that it will undoubtedly be passed tomorrow.
