That is, possible sentencing to a city or county jail versus sentencing to a state penitentiary defines the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony in some jurisdictions. Some states distinguish on the basis of the place of possible incarceration. Felony: What constitutes a 'misdemeanor' versus a 'felony' is not consistent in all states. A 'social context' usually means that no player or other person, like a bookie or the host of the game, makes or earns anything other than as, and on an equal footing with, a mere player in the contest or game. Social Gambling Allowed: The question here is whether playing for money in a purely social context is allowed.This question considers whether the state applies this 'dominant factor,' or predominance, test. Most states have concluded that where the elements of skill, whatever they may be, predominate over the elements of chance, whatever they may be, in determining outcome, then the 'chance' element is lacking and the game involved does not violate that state's anti-gambling law.

The five c-topics covered on a state-by-state basis in the chart are:ĭominant Factor Test Applied: 'Chance' is one of the elements generally required to be present in order for a game to violate a state anti-gambling statute. You can also explore my article Where is Gambling Legal in the US? Before you take any action in reliance on this chart you should get up to date and to the point advice from a local attorney. I encourage readers of this website to Contact me with corrections, objections and observations. I suppose this is because of the seemingly prevalent legislative (and law enforcement?) view that such crimes are pretty small potatoes. There is relatively little decided case law on gambling infractions including the conduct of Texas Holdem poke r. The conclusions in the chart below are primarily based on the texts of the state criminal anti-gambling laws and thus are only educated guesses in many cases.

States with illegal gambling