Florida Statutes
Fla. Stat. § 849.091 (2025)
Chain letters, pyramid clubs, etc., declared a lottery; prohibited; penalties.
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849.091 Chain letters, pyramid clubs, etc., declared a lottery; prohibited; penalties.—
(1) The organization of any chain letter club, pyramid club, or other group organized or brought together under any plan or device whereby fees or dues or anything of material value to be paid or given by members thereof are to be paid or given to any other member thereof, which plan or device includes any provision for the increase in such membership through a chain process of new members securing other new members and thereby advancing themselves in the group to a position where such members in turn receive fees, dues, or things of material value from other members, is hereby declared to be a lottery, and whoever shall participate in any such lottery by becoming a member of, or affiliating with, any such group or organization or who shall solicit any person for membership or affiliation in any such group or organization commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
(2) A “pyramid sales scheme,” which is any sales or marketing plan or operation whereby a person pays a consideration of any kind, or makes an investment of any kind, in excess of $100 and acquires the opportunity to receive a benefit or thing of value which is not primarily contingent on the volume or quantity of goods, services, or other property sold in bona fide sales to consumers, and which is related to the inducement of additional persons, by himself or herself or others, regardless of number, to participate in the same sales or marketing plan or operation, is hereby declared to be a lottery, and whoever shall participate in any such lottery by becoming a member of or affiliating with, any such group or organization or who shall solicit any person for membership or affiliation in any such group or organization commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. For purposes of this subsection, the term “consideration” and the term “investment” do not include the purchase of goods or services furnished at cost for use in making sales, but not for resale, or time and effort spent in the pursuit of sales or recruiting activities.
History.—s. 1, ch. 25096, 1949; s. 1065, ch. 71-136; s. 1, ch. 91-15; s. 215, ch. 91-224; s. 1360, ch. 97-102.
Arrestable Offenses under F.S. 849.091
M = misdemeanor · F = felony · degree: F=1st S=2nd T=3rd§849.091(2)LOTTERYPARTICIPATE/RECRUIT FOR PYRAMID SALES SCHEME
§849.091LOTTERYCHAIN LETTER PYRAMID
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 13
cases, 1967–2016 · leading case: Frye v. Taylor, 263 So. 2d 835 (Fla. 4th DCA 1972).
Frye v. Taylor, 263 So. 2d 835 (Fla. 4th DCA 1972). “Defendant contends that the note in question is void and unenforceable since it was given in consideration of participation in a transaction declared to be a lottery under Section 849.091, Florida Statutes, F.S.A.”
State v. Croy, 813 So. 2d 993 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002). “pyramid club") are lotteries [3] places pyramid schemes within the ambit of the general felony lottery statute, excepting only such conduct as the misdemeanor statute proscribes itself.”
Bond v. Koscot Interplanetary, Inc., 246 So. 2d 631 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971). “for each subsequent distributor recruited; a description of the various levels in a distributorship plan with persons at each level receiving a "commission or finder's fee for each person recruited; [1] an assertion that "the scheme or plan as being operated and being promoted…”
Kelly Mathis v. State, 208 So. 3d 158 (Fla. 5th DCA 2016). “§ 849.091(1), Fla. Stat. (2013). 3 . § 849.”
M. Lippincott Mortg. Inv. Co. v. Childress, 204 So. 2d 919 (Fla. 1st DCA 1967). “We reach this conclusion because of the adoption by the legislature of F.S. § 849.091, F.S.A., as part of the statutory law of Florida, and which is as follows: "Chain letters, pyramid clubs, etc.”
Florida Disc. Centers, Inc. v. Antinori, 226 So. 2d 693 (Fla. 2d DCA 1969). “In my opinion appellant's "plan of operation" contravenes the pyramid club statute, F.S. § 849.091 F.S.A., as construed in the Childress case; but I do not think it constitutes a security within F.”
Commonwealth v. Tolleson, 321 A.2d 664 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 1974). “See Fla. Stat. Ann. §849.091 ; La. Rev. Stat.”
State v. Bey, 618 A.2d 373 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1992). “" Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary 681 (1973)). Furthermore, if the Legislature intended to define a pyramid scheme as an illegal lottery, it was free to do so, as did the Florida legislature.”
State Ex Rel. Shevin v. Turner, 285 So. 2d 623 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973). “The state alleges that the defendants' method of sales distribution is a pyramid or chain operation which violates Section 849.091, Florida Statutes 1971, and therefore constitutes a lottery.”
Bond v. Koscot Interplanetary, Inc., 276 So. 2d 198 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973). “The complaint charged the defendant's scheme of operation was a lottery in violation of F.S. § 849.091, F.S.A. and that plaintiffs' contracts with the defendant were securities for purposes of F.”
State ex rel. Conner v. Turner, 260 So. 2d 274 (Fla. 4th DCA 1972). “Section 849.091, F.S.A. (which prohibits chain letters, pyramid clubs, etc.”
Pirela v. Off. of the Attorney Gen., 730 So. 2d 850 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999). “§§ 849.091, 501.203(3)(c), Fla. Stat. (1997); see Federal Trade Comm’n.”
— 849.091(1) — 2 cases
State v. Croy, 813 So. 2d 993 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002). “pyramid club") are lotteries [3] places pyramid schemes within the ambit of the general felony lottery statute, excepting only such conduct as the misdemeanor statute proscribes itself.”
Kelly Mathis v. State, 208 So. 3d 158 (Fla. 5th DCA 2016). “§ 849.091(1), Fla. Stat. (2013). 3 . § 849.”
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