Be it enacted by the National Assembly of the Philippines:

Sec. 1. Any provision of existing law to the contrary notwithstanding, it shall be permissible, in the game oi Basque pelota, a game of skill (including the games of pala, raqueta, cestapunta, remonte and mano), in which professional players participate, to make either direct bets or bets by means of a totalizer; provided, That no operator or maintainer of a Basque pelota court shall collect as corrmission a fee in excess of twelve per centum on such bets, or twelve per centum of the receipts of the totalizer, and of such per centum three shall he paid to the Government of the Philippines, for distribution lin equal shares between the General Hospital and the Philippine Anti-tuberculosis Society.

Sec. 2. Any person, company or corporation, that shall build a court for Basque pelota games with bets within eighteen months from the date of the approval of this Act, shall thereunder have the privilege to maintain and operate the said court for a term of twenty-five years from the date.in which the first game with bets shall have taken place. At the expiration of the said term of twenty-five years, the buildings and the land on which the court and the stadium shall be established, shall become the property of the Government of the Philippines, without payment.

Sec. 3. The location and design of the buildings that shall be used for the said games of Basque Pelota, shall have the prior approval of the Bureau of Public works, and the operator shall pay a license fee of five hundred pesos a year to the city or municipality in which the establishment shall be situated, in addition to the real-estate tax due on such real property.

Sec. 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Enacted, without Executive approval, June 18, 1939.