SECTION 177. Licensing for billiards, pool or sippio table or bowling alley; public hearing

The licensing board of Boston, the license commission of Lowell, the aldermen of any other city, and the selectmen of any town may grant and may suspend or revoke at pleasure a license which shall be subject to sections two hundred and two to two hundred and five, inclusive, to a person to keep a billiard, pool or sippio table or a bowling alley for hire, gain or reward, upon such terms and conditions as they deem proper, to be used for amusement merely and not for the purpose of gaming for money or for property.

No original license shall be granted under the provisions of this section, except after a public hearing by the appropriate licensing authority, notice of the time and place of which shall have been given, at the expense of the applicant, by the clerk of such licensing authority, by publication not less than seven days prior thereto in a newspaper, if any, published in the city or town of application; otherwise, in the county in which such city or town lies; and notice of which shall also have been given by the applicant, by registered mail, not less than seven days prior to such hearing, to all owners of real estate abutting on the the land on which is located the premises for which said license is sought or directly opposite said land on any public or private street as such owners appear on the most recent local tax list at the time the application for such license is filed.