California Penal Code Section 330
It is illegal to be a dealer in a game that is not sanctioned for gambling. The illegality comes in when someone is collecting money as people gamble, similar to how Vegas does it and the various other casinos throughout Los Angeles County.
The more people and money involved, the more likely the authorities will find out about it and do something about it. They will prosecute the person under Penal Code Section 330, who can be looking for up to six months in the County jail.
When it comes to illegal gambling and the prosecutors and police enforcing unlawful gambling in Los Angeles County by way of Penal Code Section 330, they're not looking to prosecute people who are just playing recreationally with their friends.
For example, a Tuesday night poker game or other game where people are getting together – even though money is being exchanged, this is not the police's target when it comes to illegal gambling.
They're looking at stopping those games where the public can come in and play, somebody's collecting either a percentage of the money, or a dealer is getting some of the money, or the house is sanctioning the game because usually what ends up happening in those scenarios is in addition to illegal gambling, other types of crimes are being committed like prostitution and illicit use of drugs, so that's where I'm seeing – over the last twenty-five years of dealing with these gambling and gaming cases – the police coming in.
Somebody gets busted with drugs, for example. To help themselves get themselves off, they then tell the police that there's an illegal gaming or gambling area to get the police not to prosecute them for their illicit activity.
So, ultimately, these illegal gambling locations get busted up, people get arrested, and obviously, you need an attorney. And they're not just going to arrest the house or the people who are getting the percentage of the money; they're going to arrest everybody in there who is involved in the gambling.
Defenses to Illegal Gambling Under Penal Code Section 330
One defense that can be asserted when it comes to illegal gambling is that you were not involved in the illegal gambling.
I've had several clients who were arrested and were just present at a house, for example, where this illegal gambling was going on. The authorities scooped them up in a broad net and charged them with illegal gambling. Still, they had no evidence of violating Penal Code Section 330. All they had was evidence that they were present at a location where illegal gaming or gambling was going on.
Mere presence at a crime is not in and of itself enough to prosecute somebody for illegal gambling. Other defenses would include the fact that it's just a game for fun with your friends. Nobody's getting a percentage of the money.
Yes, money is being taken – people are winning and losing money – but there's no house, so to speak, where a dealer or somebody else is getting a portion of all the gambling that's going on. That's really what's being targeted when it comes to illegal gambling in California, and specifically in Los Angeles.
So, most of the time, the authorities aren't even going to get involved if it's just tiny stakes and a meeting among friends. The question becomes how they even found out about it to get involved.
Where the problems come in once again is when people are advertising in gaming where there's another criminal activity going on such as prostitution, illegal drug use, illegal drug sale- once you start getting into that ballpark where people are profiting and doing other unlawful not moral activities, that's typically when the police are going to find out in Los Angeles. They're going to swoop in, and they're going to come and arrest everybody.
Even if they let some people go—just the fact that they swooped in, broke the game up, and arrested a bunch of people—it lets everybody know in that area that we're not going to stand for this type of activity here, and if you do it, you're going to be prosecuted and arrested.
So, if you've been swept up in one of these nets, you obviously want to keep your record clean if possible. You need to get a criminal defense attorney, come in, sit down, and go over everything in the privacy of my office. Then, we'll devise a game plan to resolve your matter and protect your rights, freedom, and reputation.
