# Gambling laws? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2001, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-laws/92364 "2001-11-09T04:34:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-laws/92364/1 "2001-11-09T04:34:23Z")
I’ve heard that it’s technically illegal to gamble in small time things like poker games with your friends, or a football pool at work, or something - but it’s obviously harmless enough that it’s not prosecuted. Is that true? Is there some sort of limit where gambling has to be licensed by the state? Or what? ---
**Author:** ![diku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@diku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diku)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-laws/92364/2 "2001-11-09T05:53:30Z")
Depends on the state. Tennessee, for example, it’s all illegal. While you aren’t likely to get busted for a football pool at the office, or a poker game, you legally could. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-laws/92364/3 "2001-11-09T06:08:27Z")
It varies from state to state depending of the laws of said state. Do police bust poker games? Very very unlikely, but it has been known to happen. They usually have better things to do. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-laws/92364/4 "2001-11-09T06:26:03Z")
For a long time, here in MN, it was common for smaller bars to have a dice cup behind the bar, and customers would ‘shake for a round’. Then the state legislature (partially in response to disapproval of all those “damn injuns on the rez gettin’ our hard-earned money” :rolleyes: ) passed a law making it illegal and the dice cups disappeared for a while, until the same legislature passed a law a couple of years later making such small-stake stuff legal again. ---
**Author:** ![vandal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-laws/92364/5 "2001-11-09T17:50:50Z")
Well, yeah, it varies by state. It even varies by the manner in which you are gambling. Like, in Nevada, you can gamble to your heart’s content in a casino, but can you play their state lottery? Nope. And why is this? Because it’s **illegal** for anyone, including the state, to facilitate a lottery. Which is why the state doesn’t have one. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-laws/92364/6 "2001-11-09T20:05:50Z")
don’t have one and never will! the casino industry does not want anyone to spend even a DOLLAR outside of thier establishments! ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-laws/92364/7 "2001-11-09T20:33:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Enderw24 \* > \*\*? Very very unlikely, but it has been known to happen. They usually have better things to do. \*\* Of course what this means is that if the cops think you have information about a real crime, they can bust your penny-ante cribbage game and threaten to prosecute you unless you tell them what they want to know. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-laws/92364/8 "2001-11-09T22:11:25Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Cliffy \* \*\* > [@](#): > > Of course what this means is that if the cops think you have information about a real crime, they can bust your penny-ante cribbage game and threaten to prosecute you unless you tell them what they want to know. > > –Cliffy \*\* And that’s exactly what happened in St. Louis at the end of our Midwest Mafia’s reign (right before the gangs came in.) The police busted a pinochle game featuring a group of reputed underworld figures. They couldn’t pin anything else on them, so they got them on illegal gambling.