Mass. Gen. Laws » Part IV Title I Chapter 271
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 271, § 5 (2026)

Gaming, lottery, pool or betting houses; tables or apparatus for gaming

✓ text as last checked Sept. 2026 (this copy records no edition or section history)
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Section 5. Whoever, except as permitted under chapters 23K and 23N, keeps or assists in keeping a common gaming house, or building or place occupied, used or kept for the purposes described in section twenty-three, or is found playing or present as provided in said section, or commonly keeps or suffers to be kept, in a building or place actually used and occupied by him, tables or other apparatus for the purpose of playing at an unlawful game or sport for money or any other valuable thing, shall be punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars or by imprisonment for not more than three months.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 8 cases, 1922–2018 · leading case: Commonwealth v. Club Caravan, Inc., 571 N.E.2d 405 (Mass. App. Ct. 1991).
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Commonwealth v. Club Caravan, Inc., 571 N.E.2d 405 (Mass. App. Ct. 1991). · cites it 2× “140, § 177A(7), but also from G. L. c. 271, §§ 5 and 17, seemingly overlapping statutes which in relevant part prohibit keeping a place for gaming or keeping gaming apparatus.”
Commonwealth v. Murphy, 173 N.E.2d 630 (Mass. 1961). “422 , we said, at page 424, of a complaint under G. L. c. 271, § 5, that the “offence of keeping gaming apparatus or of being present where gaming apparatus is found (G.”
Commonwealth v. Wetherell, 164 N.E.2d 889 (Mass. 1960). · cites it 2× “There was sufficient evidence to warrant a finding of guilty of the offence charged in the complaint under G. L. c. 271, § 5, which, omitting that part of the complaint descriptive of the offence of keeping “a common gaming house,” was in these words: “commonly keeps or suffers…”
Leisure Time Cruise Corp. v. Town of Barnstable, 62 F. Supp. 2d 202 (D. Mass. 1999). “See Mass.Gen.L. ch. 271, § 5 (“Whoever keeps or assists in keeping a common gaming house, or building or place occupied, used or kept for [gaming purposes], .”
Sullivan v. Vorenberg, 135 N.E. 165 (Mass. 1922). “” G. L. c. 271, §§ 5, 23. Every building, place or tenement resorted to for illegal gaming shall be deemed a common nuisance.”
Commonwealth v. Cosolito, 269 N.E.2d 679 (Mass. 1971). · cites it 2× “The defendant Cassino was indicted for being found with apparatus for registering bets, and for being present in a common gaming house, G. L. c. 271, §§ 5, 23. The defendant Armenio was indicted for being present in a common gaming house.”
United States v. 939 Salem Street, 917 F. Supp. 2d 151 (D. Mass. 2013). “[Gambling is illegal in Massachusetts pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 271, §§ 5 , 5A, 16A, 17, and 17A].”
Brockton Hous. Auth. v. Mello, 92 N.E.3d 1232 (Mass. App. Ct. 2018). “Other statutes bar the keeping of additional nuisances, such as gaming, see G. L. c. 271, §§ 5, 17, or keeping a "house of ill fame which is resorted to for prostitution or lewdness.”
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