Los Angeles Municipal Code Art. 3 Gambling, Fraud and Deceit

• Note: By Ordinance No. 82055, any “machine, contrivance, appliance, device, game, ticket, chance, share, interest, instrument or article operated, used, kept, possessed, placed, or maintained” in violation of the provisions of Sections43.00 to 43.16, inclusive, of this Code is declared to be a nuisance and subject to abatement as provided in said ordinance. Section 43.00 Definitions. 43.01 Gambling – Dice Shaking. 43.01.1 Bingo for Charitable Purposes. 43.05.1 Coin Games and Similar Contrivances – Possession Prohibited. 43.05.2 Games – Unlawful Possession – Declared to Be a Nuisance. 43.12 Lottery – Visiting. 43.13 Exhibiting Gambling Equipment. 43.13.1 Visiting Gambling Rooms. 43.13.2 Present at Gambling. 43.13.3 Gambling House. 43.17 Taxicabs – Cars for Hire – Defrauding. 43.18 Taxicab – Misrepresenting Identity. 43.20 Water Mains – Interference With. 43.21 Civil Service – Giving False Information. 43.22 Clearing House Certificates – Imitating. 43.24 Shoe Shine Parlors – Signs Required. 43.25 Restaurant – Menus Required. 43.26 Retail Grocery Price Marking. 43.28 Tort Claims – Soliciting.

43.29 Employers – Requiring Employees to Wear Service Uniforms. 43.30 Fortune Telling. 43.31 Fortune Telling – Exemptions. 43.32 Petitions – Misrepresentation of Contents. 43.39 Examinations – Impersonation Prohibited.

For the purpose of this article the following words and phrases are defined and shall be construed as hereinafter set out, unless it shall be apparent from the context that they have a different meaning:

“Chain Letter Scheme” shall mean and include any system, scheme or device, whether operated by letters, circulars, cards or other written or printed instrumentalities, or orally, or by any other system whatsoever, whereby it is represented, proposed or held out, that upon the payment, deposit, transmission, donation or surrender of any sum of money, or any other thing of value, the person so paying, depositing, transmitting, donating or surrendering money, or other thing of value, may receive in return therefor money, or any other thing of value, in an amount greater than the sum so paid, deposited, transmitted, donated, or surrendered by such person; such receipt of money, or other thing of value, to be in a sum greater than the value of the money, or other thing of value, paid, deposited, transmitted, donated or surrendered; being dependent, either wholly or in part, upon that person’s paying, depositing, transmitting, donating or surrendering money, or any other thing of value; determination of when such persons shall receive such greater sum of money, or other thing of value, being effected by any system or scheme whereby the names of persons paying, depositing, transmitting, donating or surrendering any sum of money, or other thing of value, are arranged so that the payment, donation or contribution to them depends upon a scheme whereby their names appear at the top or other designated place upon a list according to the number, order or rotation of such persons who have, or who may thereafter pay, deposit, donate, transmit or surrender any sum of money, or other thing of value, to participate therein.

“Lottery Ticket” shall mean any ticket, bill, scroll, paper, handbill, print, statement, chance share, memorandum, figure, character, interest, instrument or any other object purporting or understood to be or to represent any interest whatsoever in or depending upon the event of any lottery whether the same is used or intended for use or has been used or intended for use in a lottery drawing.

“Lottery Device” shall mean any tool, brush, punch, stamp, die, cut, instrument or device used or understood or intended to be used to contrive, prepare, set up, propose, draw, print, stamp, mark, write or distribute any lottery or lottery ticket or by which the outcome, results or bets of any lottery or lottery drawing are prepared, drawn, printed, stamped, marked or written.

The words “intended to be used” employed in the definition of lottery-device in Section 43.00 are descriptive of the device rather than descriptive of the possession. People v. Jackson, CR A 1588.

The failure to state the objects embraced in the definition of “lottery-device,” if not attacked by demurrer, is not prejudicial to the defendant. People v. Sielski, CR A 1624.

“Weighing or Measuring Instrument” shall mean any scale, balance, receptacle, container, device or other apparatus or equipment by which the gravity, quantity, extent or volume of anything is compared or determined.

No person shall visit, attend or resort to any office, house, room, tenement or other place where any lottery is contrived, prepared, set up, proposed, drawn or conducted or where lottery tickets are sold, offered for sale, given away, furnished or transferred.

A similar ordinance was held constitutional as a reasonable exercise of the police power. People v. Aguinaldo, CR A 2770.

No person shall hire any automobile for hire or taxicab with intent to defraud the person from whom it is hired or refuse to pay the legal fare of any automobile for hire or taxicab after having hired the same.

No owner, driver or agent soliciting patronage for any automobile for hire or taxicab shall misrepresent by word, sign, hat band, insignia I or badge the true identity of the vehicle for which such patronage is sought

(a) No person shall make, use or maintain any connection in any manner with any water main, service connection pipe, fire hydrant stub pipe, conduit or flume owned, controlled or operated by any person or municipality authorized by law to distribute water for domestic or other use, without the knowledge of consent of such person or municipality authorized by law to so distribute water; provided, however, that nothing contained herein shall be deemed to prevent the connection of pipes, hose or other means of using water to lawfully installed service pipes for the use of water lawfully passing through a meter installed for the measuring of such water.

(b) No person shall turn on, or use water for domestic or other purposes by means of any connection with any water main, water meter, service connection pipe, fire hydrant, stub pipe, conduit, flume or other appliance or method whereby water is withdrawn from the possession, custody and control of any person or municipality authorized by law to furnish water for domestic or other use, without first securing the consent of such person or municipality so to do.

(c) No person shall tamper in any manner with any water meter, weir or other water measuring device installed for the purpose of measuring water used or intended to be used for domestic or other purposes; open any shut-off valve or other connection between such meter or measuring device and any water main, or water supply pipe so that water may pass into or through said meter or measuring device; or in any manner change the connection between the water discharge outlets and appliances upon private property and the water mains or other pipes or methods of conveying water by any person or municipality authorized by law to furnish water for domestic or other use in such manner that water may be used or drawn from any water main or water supply pipe without passing through a meter installed for measuring such water, without the knowledge or consent of such person or municipality.

No person shall knowingly or intentionally give any misinformation or false information, or convey any false impression relative to the person’s character, experience or past conduct in any application filed in connection with any examination for the filling of any position in the classified Civil Service of this City.

No person shall make, print, write, engrave, lithograph, sell, give away, distribute, or have in their possession any paper, instrument, document, circular, card, hand bill, dodger or advertisement which resembles or is made in imitation of, in size, form, dimensions, wording or general appearance, any certificate which has heretofore been, or may hereafter be issued, distributed or circulated by or under the authority of the Los Angeles Clearing House Association, provided that the provisions of this section shall not apply to certificates issued, distributed or circulated by or under the authority of the Los Angeles Clearing House Association.

No person shall operate, conduct, control, manage or otherwise carry on any shoe shine parlor or stand in the City of Los Angeles unless there is posted and maintained therein or thereon in a conspicuous place, clearly visible by the public, a sign listing the price of each and every service rendered by such business, and no such person shall charge or attempt to charge any amount different from that appearing on such sign for any service rendered. The lettering on such sign shall be of uniform size with the letters not less than one inch in height.

No person controlling, leasing, acting as agent for, conducting, managing or carrying on any restaurant, hotel, café, cafeteria, or other public place where food is sold, served or offered for sale or service, shall conduct or operate any such restaurant, hotel, café, cafeteria or other public place where food is sold, served or offered for sale or service, unless said person owning, controlling, leasing, acting as agent for, conducting, managing or carrying on any such restaurant, hotel, café, cafeteria, or other public place where food is sold, served, or offered for sale or service, shall cause to be conspicuously displayed and maintained at all times a menu, bill of fare, card or other form or device which shall clearly indicate to the purchaser the price of the article of food to be sold or served, which said menu, bill of fare, card or other like form or device, shall be so placed, displayed and maintained as to be clearly within the vision of the purchaser of said article or articles of food at the time such food is ordered, provided, however, that in all public places where the sale or service of food is effected by permitting the purchaser of said food to view the same, and order directly therefrom each kind of food to be sold or served shall be provided with a card, ticket, tag or other like form or device which shall be conspicuously displayed immediately adjacent to said kind of food and shall clearly indicate the price of the particular kind of food immediately adjacent thereto.

(Added by Ord. No. 153,436, Eff. 3/21/80.)

(a) Every person owning, operating, managing, leasing or renting any retail grocery store, grocery department within a general retail merchandise store, or liquor store shall cause to have a clearly readable price indicated on each packaged consumer commodity offered for sale. Each automatic checkout system store, participating in the test provided for concurrently with adoption of this section, will provide a means by which the customer may mark individual items. Automatic checkout system stores participating in said test shall cause to have a clearly readable price conspicuously displayed on a shelf tag where the item is shelved rather than indicated on each packaged consumer commodity offered for sale.

(b) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any of the following:

(1) Any unpackaged fresh food produce;

(2) Any consumer commodity which is under three cubic inches in size, weighs less than three ounces and is priced under thirty cents ($0.30);

(3) Any consumer commodity offered as a sale item or as a special;

(4) Any business which has as its only regular employees the owner thereof, or the parent, spouse, or child of such owner, or, in addition thereto, not more than two other regular employees;

(5) Identical items within a multi-item package;

(6) Items sold through a vending machine; and

(7) Any consumer commodity, not including packaged produce, which was not generally item priced as of January 1, 1977, as determined by the State of California Department of Food and Agriculture.

(c) The following definitions shall apply for purposes of this section:

(1) “Consumer commodity” means:

(A) Food, including all material whether solid, liquid, or mixed, and whether simple or compound, which is used or intended for consumption by human beings or domestic animals normally kept as household pets, and all substances or ingredients added to any such material for any purpose, but shall not include individual packages of cigarettes or individual cigars;

(B) Paper and plastic products, such as, but not limited to, napkins, facial tissues, toilet tissues, foil wrapping, plastic wrapping, paper toweling, and disposable plates and cups;

(C) Detergents, soaps, and other cleaning agents; and

(D) Pharmaceuticals, including non-prescription drugs, bandages, female hygiene products, and toiletries.

(2) “Grocery department” means an area within a general retail merchandise store which is engaged primarily in the retail sale of packaged food rather than food prepared for immediate consumption on or off the premises.

(3) “Grocery store” means a store engaged primarily in the retail sale of packaged food, rather than food prepared for consumption on the premises.

(4) “Sale item or special” means any consumer commodity offered in good faith for a period of seven days or less, on sale at a price below the normal price that item is usually sold for in that grocery store or grocery department.

(5) “Liquor store” means a store with an off sale liquor license, as defined in State law, engaged primarily in the sale of liquor Items.

(6) “Automatic checkout system” means an electronic system employing a scanning device combined with a computer and a register to read a universal product code or similar code on packaging and display

and total the cost of the items purchased.

(d) Any person intentionally violating any of the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of an infraction, and upon conviction thereof, shall be subject to the fine for an infraction.

No person shall solicit employment for themself or for any other person acting on their behalf to prosecute, collect, settle, compromise or to negotiate for the settlement, compromise or collection of any tort claim, on behalf of any tort claimant, in which the person has no pecuniary interest arising from such tort.

The provisions of this section shall not be construed to prevent joint tort claimants from negotiating with each other for the purpose of combining respective claims or actions against the tort feasor.

The mere fact that the business of adjusting and settling tort claims affects the public welfare generally throughout the state does not mean that the police power to regulate such business, and particularly to prohibit the solicitation thereof within a given municipality, must be exercised exclusively by the state legislature but on the contrary, subject only to control of general laws, the entire police power of the state may be exercised by the council of a city within the limits of its jurisdiction, and a city ordinance prohibiting such solicitation is not violative of the federal constitution. People v. Levy, 8 Cal. App. 2d 763.

No person engaged in any private business, occupation or employment shall directly or indirectly require or make it a condition of the employment of any person that such person so employed shall wear the uniform of the military, naval or marine service of the United States while performing the duties of such private business, occupation or employment.

(Amended by Ord. No. 158,175, Eff. 9/5/83.)

No person shall advertise by sign, circular, handbill or in any newspaper, periodical, or magazine, or other publication or publications, or by any other means, to tell fortunes, to find or restore lost or stolen property, to locate oil wells, gold or silver or other ore or metal or natural product; to restore lost love or friendship, to unite or procure lovers, husbands, wives, lost relatives or friends, for or without pay, by means of occult or psychic powers, faculities, forces, crafts or sciences, including clairvoyance, spirits, mediumship, seership, prophecy, astrology, palmistry, necromancy, cards, talismans, charms, potions, magnetism or magnetized articles or substances, oriental mysteries, magic of any kind or nature, or numerology.

No person shall engage in or carry on any business the advertisement of which is prohibited by this section.

Where the appellant maintained a sign in her window: “Spiritual Science Readings”; offered to tell a witness “everything he wanted to know,” for $2.00; told the witness the witnesses’s wife would return within three days, the witness was going to receive letters with money in them, and the witness would take a trip, and would go back to sea, such facts constituted a violation of Section 43.30 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code, and a conviction was affirmed, even though the appellant defended on the ground that she was a duly ordained minister and that the $2.00 was a donation to the American Church. People v. Merino, CR A 1921.

Even though the appellant received a salary from the church in return for her collections, she was not exempt under the provisions of Section43.31. People v. Merino, Supra.

Where the appellant told the witness that she would be married twice, would marry an attorney, would go to a new job, that the unhappy part of her life would end July 15, that she was in danger of having an accident, but would live to be 70 or 80 years old and appellant charged the witness $1.00, the conviction was sustained even though appellant was an ordained minister of a bona fide church. People v. Norvell, CR A 1956. See also: People v. Whittemore, CR A 2031.

“It is not a violation of Section 43.30 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code to tell fortunes unless the person so doing is engaged in or is carrying on any business of fortune telling, or one or more of the other activities therein prohibited...a single act does not constitute a business.” (In this case the court affirmed a conviction of 43.30 and vagrancy, holding that “a reading of the reporter’s transcript convinces us that the proof of defendant’s guilt was overwhelming”; (Bishop dissenting). People v. Abdullah et Ahmed Saud, CR A 2008.

“Fortune telling...is the practice of foretelling events, or prophesying the future, also the practice or art of professing to reveal future events in the life of another...Tested by this definition many of the acts proved to have been done by defendant, such as narrating the past history of his visitors and characterizing the personalities of the visitors and advising them as to their present and future conduct, do not constitute fortune telling. But other acts shown, such as stating that one visitor would receive a letter from her brother...do come within the above definition...But Section 43.30 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code does not contain a general prohibition of fortune telling...In addition to the words quoted after the phrase ‘by means of,’ there is an enumeration of other arts and practices...But we are satisfied that one who advertised merely to tell fortunes, without specifying any of the enumerated means of doing so, and likewise one who does tell fortunes without professing or exemplifying any of those means, does not violate this ordinance.” People v. Miracles A. Smith, CR A 2034.

A minister who tells fortunes as a business otherwise than in the performance of their pastoral duties acts in violation of Section43.30. People v. Bradford, CR A 2076.

Section 43.30 is constitutional, and does not offend Sections 11 and 21 of Article I of the State Constitution, and even though it were conceded that astrology is a science such a fact of itself would not warrant a person in conducting a business of telling fortunes. People v. Griffen, CR A 2190.

The provisions of the preceding section shall not be construed to include, prohibit or interfere with the exercise of any religious or spiritual function of any priest, minister, rector or an accredited representative of any bona fide church or religion where such priest, minister, rector or accredited representative holds a certificate of credit, commission or ordination under the ecclesiastical laws of a religious corporation incorporated under the laws of any state or territory of the United States of America or any voluntary religious association, and who fully conforms to the rites and practices prescribed by the supreme conference, convocation, convention, assembly, association or synod of the system or faith with which they are affiliated. Provided, however, that any church or religious organization which is organized for the primary purpose of conferring certificates of commission, credit or ordination for a price and not primarily for the purpose of teaching and practicing a religious doctrine or belief, shall not be deemed to be a bona fide church or religious organization.

See Annotations under 43.30.

(a) No person circulating, or having charge of control of the circulation of, or obtaining control of the circulation of, or obtaining signatures to, any petition authorized or provided for by the City Charter, or otherwise by law, shall misrepresent or make any false statement concerning the contents, purport or effect of any such petition to any person who signs or who desires to sign, or who is requested to sign, or who makes inquiry with reference to, any such petition, or to whom any such petition is presented for signature.

(b) Petitions – Misrepresentation of Content: No person circulating or having charge or control of the circulation of, or obtaining signatures to any petition not mentioned in the preceding subsection, and which is or is to be presented to any body, board, commission or officer shall willfully or knowingly misrepresent, or make any false statement concerning the contents, purport or effect of any such petition to any person who signs, or who desires to sign, or who is requested to sign, or who makes inquiry with respect to any such petition, or to whom any such petition is presented for signature.

(c) Petitions – False Statements of Contents: No person shall willfully or knowingly circulate, publish or exhibit any false statement or misrepresentation concerning the contents, purport or effect of any petition mentioned in this section for the purpose of obtaining any signature to any such petition or for the purpose of pursuading any person to sign or not to sign any such petition.

(d) Petitions – False Signatures: No person shall file in the office of the City Clerk or with any body, board, commission or officer any petition mentioned in this section to which is attached, appended or subscribed any signature which the person so filing such petition knows to be false or fraudulent or not the genuine signature of the person, purporting to sign such petition or whose name is attached, appended or subscribed thereto.

(e) Petition – True Copy Required: No person circulating or having charge or control of the circulation of, or obtaining signatures to, any petition mentioned in this section shall fail, refuse or neglect to have attached to each paper forming a part of such petition and upon which any signature is written and at the time such signature is written on such paper, a full, true and correct copy of such petition, or to fail, refuse or neglect to exhibit to any person signing, or about to sign, or desiring to sign, or who is requested to sign, any such petition, a full, true and correct copy of such petition, or to fail, refuse or neglect to permit any person signing or about to sign, desiring to sign or who is requested to sign, or who makes inquiry with reference to any such petition to examine such petition for a sufficient length of time to ascertain the contents, purport or effect of such petition.

No person shall impersonate another person or permit or aid in any manner any other person to impersonate them in connection with any examination or request or application for examination for the filing of any position in the classified civil service of this City, or for the issuance of any certificate of qualification, license or permit required by the provisions of this Code.