Gambling Lows

by Jerry "Jet" Whittaker
May 5, 2006

State Laws on Gambling in US –

Most of the states in US have made it illegal to operate any type of gambling business or activity other than those sponsored by the state (including the legalized activities like lotteries, horse racing, riverboat gaming, etc.). Most of these state laws are comprehensive.

A brief description of some of the State Laws –

The Tennessee State Law declares a person engaging in gambling knowingly as committing an offence.  In this reference, the term ‘gambling’ is defined as “risking anything of value for a profit whose return is to any degree contingent on chance” and it doesn’t include any lawful business transaction. And the phrase ‘for a profit’ states that only gambling carried on as a business would be prosecuted by the Tennessee State Law.

Massachusetts State Law – Says that anyone organizing, supervising, managing or financing at least four persons to provide facilities / services or assisting in the provision of facilities / services for conducting illegal lotteries, illegal registration of bets, illegal buying / selling of pools based on the result of a trial or contest of skill, speed or endurance of man / beast / bird / machine or on the happening of any event or result of a game, competition, political nomination, appointment, election, or anyone knowingly receiving from at least four persons, any form of compensation / payment as a return from such lotteries, such registration or buying / selling shall be punished with imprisonment for up to 15 years or fine of $10,000 or both.

The laws on gambling vary from state to state. They can be quite complicated and consulting an attorney before starting any gambling oriented activity to understand the intricacies of the respective state law is advisable.

Federal Laws –

The US Federal Law prohibits the people in the betting or wagering business from knowingly using a wire communication facility for transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of bets / wagers or information assisting placing of bets / wages, or any sporting event / contest. Violation of this law shall be punished with fine or imprisonment for up to 2 years and also asset seizure under racketeering laws.

The interstate wire transmission of gambling / betting information can be legal only of both the states (state of origination and the state where the bet is placed) allow such bets.

There are legislations that prosecute those using online gambling sites and punishes with $5,000 fine or 1 year imprisonment or both. As of now, the site users are not prosecuted, but only the virtual casinos.

Attorneys can counsel on establishing a legal gambling business online and also those who want to recover damages from the online gambling businesses.

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