U.S. Code » Title 18 » Part PART I— CRIMES › Chapter CHAPTER 95— RACKETEERING

18 U.S.C. § 1955

Prohibition of illegal gambling businesses

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(a) Whoever conducts, finances, manages, supervises, directs, or owns all or part of an illegal gambling business shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.(b) As used in this section—(1) “illegal gambling business” means a gambling business which—(i) is a violation of the law of a State or political subdivision in which it is conducted;(ii) involves five or more persons who conduct, finance, manage, supervise, direct, or own all or part of such business; and(iii) has been or remains in substantially continuous operation for a period in excess of thirty days or has a gross revenue of $2,000 in any single day.(2) “insured credit union” shall have the meaning given the term in section 101 of the Federal Credit Union Act (12 U.S.C. 1752).(3) “insured depository institution” shall have the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813).(4) “gambling” includes but is not limited to pool-selling, bookmaking, maintaining slot machines, roulette wheels or dice tables, and conducting lotteries, policy, bolita or numbers games, or selling chances therein.(5) “savings promotion raffle” means a contest in which the sole consideration required for a chance of winning designated prizes is obtained by the deposit of a specified amount of money in a savings account or other savings program, where each ticket or entry has an equal chance of being drawn, such contest being subject to regulations that may from time to time be promulgated by the appropriate prudential regulator (as defined in section 1002 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5481)).(6) “State” means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any territory or possession of the United States.(c) If five or more persons conduct, finance, manage, supervise, direct, or own all or part of a gambling business and such business operates for two or more successive days, then, for the purpose of obtaining warrants for arrests, interceptions, and other searches and seizures, probable cause that the business receives gross revenue in excess of $2,000 in any single day shall be deemed to have been established.(d) Any property, including money, used in violation of the provisions of this section may be seized and forfeited to the United States. All provisions of law relating to the seizures, summary, and judicial forfeiture procedures, and condemnation of vessels, vehicles, merchandise, and baggage for violation of the customs laws; the disposition of such vessels, vehicles, merchandise, and baggage or the proceeds from such sale; the remission or mitigation of such forfeitures; and the compromise of claims and the award of compensation to informers in respect of such forfeitures shall apply to seizures and forfeitures incurred or alleged to have been incurred under the provisions of this section, insofar as applicable and not inconsistent with such provisions. Such duties as are imposed upon the collector of customs or any other person in respect to the seizure and forfeiture of vessels, vehicles, merchandise, and baggage under the customs laws shall be performed with respect to seizures and forfeitures of property used or intended for use in violation of this section by such officers, agents, or other persons as may be designated for that purpose by the Attorney General.(e) This section shall not apply to—(1) any bingo game, lottery, or similar game of chance conducted by an organization exempt from tax under paragraph (3) of subsection (c) of section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, if no part of the gross receipts derived from such activity inures to the benefits of any private shareholder, member, or employee of such organization except as compensation for actual expenses incurred by him in the conduct of such activity; or(2) any savings promotion raffle.(Added Pub. L. 91–452, title VIII, § 803(a), Oct. 15, 1970, 84 Stat. 937; amended Pub. L. 99–514, § 2, Oct. 22, 1986, 100 Stat. 2095; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(N), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148; Pub. L. 113–251, § 5(3), Dec. 18, 2014, 128 Stat. 2891.)Editorial NotesReferences in Text

Paragraph (3) of subsection (c) of section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, referred to in subsec. (e)(1), is classified to section 501(c)(3) of Title 26, Internal Revenue Code.

Amendments

2014—Subsec. (b)(2), (3). Pub. L. 113–251, § 5(3)(A)(iii), added pars. (2) and (3). Former pars. (2) and (3) redesignated (4) and (6), respectively.

Subsec. (b)(4). Pub. L. 113–251, § 5(3)(A)(i), redesignated par. (2) as (4).

Subsec. (b)(5). Pub. L. 113–251, § 5(3)(A)(iv), added par. (5).

Subsec. (b)(6). Pub. L. 113–251, § 5(3)(A)(ii), redesignated par. (3) as (6).

Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 113–251, § 5(3)(B), substituted “This section shall not apply to—” for “This section shall not apply to any bingo”, inserted “(1) any bingo” before “game,”, substituted “activity; or” for “activity.”, and added par. (2).

1994—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $20,000”.

1986—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 99–514 substituted “Internal Revenue Code of 1986” for “Internal Revenue Code of 1954”.

Statutory Notes and Related SubsidiariesNational Gambling Impact Study Commission

Pub. L. 104–169, Aug. 3, 1996, 110 Stat. 1482, as amended by Pub. L. 105–30, § 1, July 25, 1997, 111 Stat. 248, established the National Gambling Impact Study Commission to conduct a comprehensive legal and factual study of the social and economic impacts of gambling in the United States on Federal, State, local, and Native American tribal governments, as well as on communities and social institutions generally, including individuals, families, and businesses within such communities and institutions, and to submit a report, not later than two years after its first meeting, to the President, the Congress, State Governors, and Native American tribal governments containing the Commission’s findings and conclusions, together with any recommendations of the Commission, and further provided for membership of the Commission, meetings, powers and duties of the Commission, personnel matters, contracts for research with the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations and the National Research Council, definitions, appropriations, and termination of the Commission 60 days after submission of its final report.

Priority of State Laws

Enactment of this section as not indicating an intent on the part of the Congress to occupy the field in which this section operates to the exclusion of State of local law on the same subject matter, or to relieve any person of any obligation imposed by any State or local law, see section 811 of Pub. L. 91–452, set out as a Priority of State Laws note under section 1511 of this title.

Commission on Review of National Policy Toward Gambling

Sections 804–809 of Pub. L. 91–452 established Commission on Review of National Policy Toward Gambling, provided for its membership and compensation of members and staff, empowered Commission to subpoena witnesses and grant immunity, required Commission to make a study of gambling in United States and existing Federal, State, and local policy and practices with respect to prohibition and taxation of gambling activities and to make a final report of its findings and recommendations to President and to Congress within four years of its establishment, and provided for its termination sixty days after submission of final report.

Executive DocumentsTransfer of Functions

Offices of collector of customs, comptroller of customs, surveyor of customs, and appraiser of merchandise in Bureau of Customs of Department of the Treasury to which appointments were required to be made by President with advice and consent of Senate ordered abolished, with such offices to be terminated not later than Dec. 31, 1966, by Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1965, eff. May 25, 1965, 30 F.R. 7035, 79 Stat. 1317, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees. Functions of offices eliminated were already vested in Secretary of the Treasury by Reorg. Plan No. 26 of 1950, eff. July 31, 1950, 15 F.R. 4935, 64 Stat. 1280, set out in the Appendix to Title 5.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 874 cases (28 in the last 5 years), 1971–2026 · leading case: Sanabria v. United States
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Sanabria v. United States (1978) scotus · cites it 12× “I Petitioner was indicted, along with several others, for violating 18 U. S. C. § 1955 (1976 ed.), which makes it a federal offense to conduct, finance, manage, supervise, direct, or own all or part of an "illegal gambling business.”
United States v. On Leong Chinese Merchants Association Building (1990) ca7 · cites it 25× “The government alleged that the Building housed an illegal gambling business, and sought forfeiture pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1955 (d). Finding that probable cause existed to believe that the Building was subject to forfeiture, the district court granted summary judgment for the…”
United States v. Phil Pinelli, David Pinelli, Robert Sheehan, Martin Mosko, Thomas Gottone, William Burbidge, and Aaron (1989) ca10 · cites it 24× “The pertinent statutes on appeal are 18 U.S.C. § 1955 (operating an illegal gambling business in violation of the laws of Colorado, involving five or more persons, with gross wagers in excess of $2,000 on any single day), 18 U.”
United States v. Frank Peter Balistrieri, Steve Disalvo, and Dennis Librizzi, Defendants (1985) ca7 · cites it 10× “§ 371 , two counts of conducting an illegal gambling business, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1955 , and two counts of failure to file certain tax returns, in violation of 26 U.”
United States v. Burns (1989) nynd · cites it 30× “Introduction All of the defendants in these criminal matters have been indicted on federal charges of either conducting an illegal gambling business, 18 U.S.C. § 1955 , the unlawful use and possession of gambling devices within Indian territory, 15 U.”
Iannelli v. United States (1975) scotus · cites it 11× “Each of the eight petitioners, along with seven unindicted coconspirators and six codefendants, was charged, inter alia, *772 with conspiring [1] to violate and violating 18 U. S. C. § 1955 , a federal gambling statute making it a crime for five or more persons to conduct,…”
United States v. Nathan Wall (95-5007) and Donald Wall (95-5008) (1996) ca6 · cites it 17× “They entered conditional pleas of guilty to a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1955 . 1 Defendants aver constitutional and statutory construction issues in this appeal.”
United States v. George Atiyeh United States of America v. George Atiyeh (2005) ca3 · cites it 17× “The Government cross appeals from the District Court’s grant of Atiyeh’s post-conviction motion for acquittal on the counts that were predicated on a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1955 (prohibiting illegal gambling businesses).”
United States v. Gennaro J. Angiulo, Donato F. Angiulo, Samuel S. Granito, Francesco J. Angiulo and Michele A. Angiulo (1990) ca1 · cites it 9× “Gennaro Angiulo was also convicted of the following offenses: four counts of conducting illegal gambling businesses, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1955 ; two counts of conspiring to make an extortionate extension of credit, in violation of 18 U.”
United States v. Lawson (2012) ca4 · cites it 10× “Several of the defendants in this case also were convicted of participating in, and conspiring to participate in, an illegal gambling business in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1955 (the illegal gambling statute), with relation to activities that occurred during the “derbies.”
United States v. Benjamin Ruggiero, Nicholas Santora, Anthony Rabito, and Antonio Tomasulo (1984) ca2 · cites it 9× “The other issue is whether it is permissible similarly to use a conspiracy to conduct an illegal gambling operation in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1955 . We hold that it is not.”
United States v. Robert William Gilley, United States of America v. Benjamin Louis Rodriguez (1988) ca9 · cites it 13× “§ 371 ; Count Two: that Gilley and Rodriguez during and over the same period did in fact conduct, finance, manage, supervise, direct or own an illegal gambling business in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1955 ; Count Three: that Gilley and Rodriguez during and over a period from April…”
Show all 874 citing cases →
— 18 U.S.C. § 1955(a) — 1 case
United States v. Datillo (2004) ca2
— 18 U.S.C. § 1955(b) — 1 case
United States v. Mainello (1972) nyed
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