Betting
or WAGERING, a contract by which two or more parties agree that a certain sum of money or other thing shall be paid or delivered to one of them on the happening or not happening of an uncertain event. At common law, wagers are not, per se, void, but statutes prohibiting betting have been passed by many of the States. When one loses a wager and gets another to pay the money for him, an action lies for the recovery of the money. Wagers on the event of an election laid before the poll is open, or after it is closed, are illegal. In horse-racing, simple bets upon a race are unlawful both in England and the United States. In the case even of a legal wager, the authority of a stakeholder, like that of an arbitrator, may be rescinded by either party before the event happens.