BUSINESS LAW 101 / Gambling

By Albert L. Kelley, Esq.

The State of Florida is currently involved in a lawsuit over the extension of gambling rights granted to the Seminole tribe.  For years, there has been legal gambling in Florida.  From dog tracks to jai alai to bingo to the state lottery, gambling has been available.  But you would not think that if you read the law.  Statute 849.08 makes it illegal if someone “plays or engages in any game at cards, keno, roulette, faro or other game of chance, at any place, by any device whatever, for money or other thing of value”.  Statute 849.01 makes it illegal to keep or maintain a gaming table or room, implements or apparatus, or any other place for the purpose of gambling, whether prohibited or not. It is also illegal to allow betting on a pool game, or on a drawing or lottery. So how can there be so much gambling if it is all illegal?

Well, there are exceptions. Penny ante card games are allowed, if the value of the winnings in any hand is less than $10.  Bingo games are allowed if performed by a charitable, nonprofit, or veterans’ organization engaged in charitable, civic, community, benevolent, religious, or scholastic works, so long as they have been in existence for at least three years.  Other bingo games are allowed, only if all money taken in is given back out in the form of prizes.  Lotteries are allowed if they are nationally advertised drawings.  Lotteries are also allowed if held by a gas station for promotional purposes. Drawings are also allowed by tax exempt companies, but only if all advertisements, tickets, or entry blanks used in connection with the drawing shall conspicuously disclose the rules governing the conduct and operation of the drawing, the full name of the organization and its principal place of business, the source of the funds used to award cash prizes or to purchase prizes, the date, hour, and place where the winner will be chosen and the prizes will be awarded, and that no purchase or contribution is necessary. Bowling tournaments are exempted. 

Finally, there is Statute 849.142.  This is the main exception statute.  It allows all gaming activities allowed under the agreement with the Seminole Indian tribe. It allows the operation of amusement machines that are based on skill, not chance. These machines are broken down into three categories. Type A machines are those that only award a free play as a prize, does not allow the accumulation of more than fifteen replays, and does not allow the accumulated replays to be redeemed for anything of value. Type B machines allows the player to receive coupons or points that may be redeemed onsite for merchandise and that no single item of merchandise may be valued above $525.00.  These games may only be played at a timeshare facility, a public housing or food service establishment, a licensed amusement arcade, bowling center or truck stop. Type C machines are “claw machines” that allow the player to operate a miniature crane to try and grab merchandise.  No merchandise in the game may be values at more than $52.50.   These machines may only be operated at a timeshare facility, a public housing or food service establishment, a licensed amusement arcade, bowling center or truck stop, a retail store or a veteran’s service organization.

The statute also allows pari-mutuel gambling (greyhound dog racing, horse racing, harness racing and jai alai) under specific standards. The pari-mutuel facilities in Miami-Dade County or Broward County are also authorized to have slot machines.  The statute also allows poker and domino games in licensed cardrooms at the pari-mutuel facilities. Finally, the statute allows bingo games if they occur on property owned or leased for at least one year by a charitable, nonprofit, or veterans’ organization, property owned by a city or county government, or property owned by a condominium association, a cooperative association, a homeowners’ association, a mobile homeowners’ association, a group of residents of a mobile home park or recreational vehicle park.

Al Kelley has worked as an attorney in Monroe County for the last 31 years. He is the author of five law books available through Absolutely Amazing E-Books and the host of “Basics Of The Law”, a legal YouTube channel. He serves as the Vice Chair of the 16th Judicial Circuit Professionalism Panel.  He also previously taught business law, personnel law, and labor law at St. Leo University. This article is being offered as a public service and is not intended to provide specific legal advice. If you have any questions about legal issues, you should confer with a licensed Florida attorney

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