2012 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 53 - Crimes
Chapter 946 - Offenses Against Public Policy
Section 53-278a - Gambling: Definitions.

As used in sections 53-278a to 53-278g, inclusive:

(1) “Gain” means the direct realization of winnings; “profit” means any other realized or unrealized benefit, direct or indirect, including without limitation benefits from proprietorship, management or unequal advantage in a series of transactions;

(2) “Gambling” means risking any money, credit, deposit or other thing of value for gain contingent in whole or in part upon lot, chance or the operation of a gambling device, including the playing of a casino gambling game such as blackjack, poker, craps, roulette or a slot machine, but does not include: Legal contests of skill, speed, strength or endurance in which awards are made only to entrants or the owners of entries; legal business transactions which are valid under the law of contracts; activity legal under the provisions of sections 7-169 to 7-186, inclusive; any lottery or contest conducted by or under the authority of any state of the United States, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any possession or territory of the United States; and other acts or transactions expressly authorized by law on or after October 1, 1973;

(3) “Professional gambling” means accepting or offering to accept, for profit, money, credits, deposits or other things of value risked in gambling, or any claim thereon or interest therein. Without limiting the generality of this definition, the following shall be included: Pool-selling and bookmaking; maintaining slot machines, one-ball machines or variants thereof, pinball machines, which award anything other than an immediate and unrecorded right of replay, roulette wheels, dice tables, or money or merchandise pushcards, punchboards, jars or spindles, in any place accessible to the public; and except as provided in sections 7-169 to 7-186, inclusive, conducting lotteries, gift enterprises, disposal or sale of property by lottery or hazard or policy or numbers games, or selling chances therein; and the following shall be presumed to be included: Conducting any banking game played with cards, dice or counters, or accepting any fixed share of the stakes therein;

(4) “Gambling device” means any device or mechanism by the operation of which a right to money, credits, deposits or other things of value may be created, as the result of the operation of an element of chance; any device or mechanism which, when operated for a consideration, does not return the same value or thing of value for the same consideration upon each operation thereof; any device, mechanism, furniture or fixture designed primarily for use in connection with professional gambling; and any subassembly or essential part designed or intended for use in connection with any such device, mechanism, furniture, fixture, construction or installation, provided an immediate and unrecorded right of replay mechanically conferred on players of pinball machines and similar amusement devices shall be presumed to be without value. “Gambling device” does not include a crane game machine or device or a redemption machine;

(5) “Gambling record” means any record, receipt, ticket, certificate, token, slip or notation given, made, used or intended to be used in connection with professional gambling;

(6) “Gambling information” means a communication with respect to any wager made in the course of, and any information intended to be used for, professional gambling. Information as to wagers, betting odds or changes in betting odds shall be presumed to be intended for use in professional gambling;

(7) “Gambling premise” means any building, room, enclosure, vehicle, vessel or other place, whether open or enclosed, used or intended to be used for professional gambling. Any place where a gambling device is found shall be presumed to be intended to be used for professional gambling, except a place wherein a bazaar or raffle for which a permit has been issued under sections 7-170 to 7-186, inclusive, or bingo for which a permit has been issued under section 7-169 is to be conducted;

(8) “Person” includes natural persons, partnerships, limited liability companies and associations of persons, and corporations; and any corporate officer, director or stockholder who authorizes, participates in or knowingly accepts benefits from any violation of sections 53-278a to 53-278g, inclusive, committed by his corporation;

(9) “Peace officer” means a municipal or state police officer or chief inspector or inspector in the Division of Criminal Justice or state marshal while exercising authority granted under any provision of the general statutes or judicial marshal in the performance of the duties of a judicial marshal;

(10) “Court” means the Superior Court;

(11) “Crane game machine or device” means a machine or device (A) that is designed and manufactured only for bona fide amusement purposes and involves at least some skill in its operation, (B) that rewards a winning player exclusively with merchandise contained within the machine or device and such merchandise is limited to noncash prizes, toys or novelties each of which has a wholesale value not exceeding ten dollars or ten times the cost of playing the machine or device, whichever is less, (C) the player of which is able to control the timing of the use of the claw or grasping device to attempt to pick up or grasp a prize, toy or novelty, (D) the player of which is made aware of any time restrictions that the machine or device imposes on the player to maneuver the claw or grasping device into a position to attempt to pick up or grasp a prize, toy or novelty, and (E) the claw or grasping device of which is not of a size, design or shape that prohibits the picking up or grasping of a prize, toy or novelty contained within the machine or device;

(12) “Redemption machine” means an amusement device operated by one or more players that involves a game the object of which is throwing, rolling, bowling, shooting, placing or propelling a ball or other object into, upon or against a hole or other target and that rewards the player or players with tickets, tokens or other noncash representations of value redeemable for merchandise prizes, provided (A) the outcome of the game is predominantly determined by the skill of the player, (B) the award of tickets, tokens or other noncash representations of value is based solely on the player’s achieving the object of the game or on the player’s score, (C) only merchandise prizes are awarded, (D) the average wholesale value of the prizes awarded in lieu of tickets or tokens for a single play of the machine does not exceed ten dollars or ten times the cost of a single play of the machine, whichever is less, and (E) the redemption value of each ticket, token or other noncash representation of value that may be accumulated by a player or players to redeem prizes of greater value does not exceed the cost of a single play of the machine.

(P.A. 73-455, S. 1; P.A. 74-183, S. 172, 291; 74-191, S. 1, 2; P.A. 75-567, S. 70, 80; P.A. 76-111, S. 4; 76-436, S. 152, 681; P.A. 95-61; 95-79, S. 178, 189; P.A. 00-99, S. 4, 154; Jan. 6 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-1, S. 1.)

History: P.A. 74-183 redefined “court” as court of common pleas rather than circuit court, reflecting reorganization of judicial system, effective December 31, 1974; P.A. 74-191 redefined “gambling” to exclude lotteries or contests under authority of the “Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any possession or territory of the United States” and to substitute Sec. 7-186l for Sec. 7-186; P.A. 75-567 replaced “county” detectives with detectives in the division of criminal justice in definition of “peace officer”, county government having been abolished in 1959; P.A. 76-111 redefined “peace officer” to replace detectives with chief inspectors or inspectors of criminal justice division; P.A. 76-436 redefined “court” to delete court of common pleas, reflecting transfer of all trial jurisdiction to superior court, effective July 1, 1978; (Revisor’s note: In 1993 references in Subdivs. (3) and (7) to Sec. 7-186m were replaced editorially by the Revisors with references to Sec. 7-186l, Sec. 7-186m having been repealed); P.A. 95-61 amended Subdiv. (4) to exempt “crane game machine or device” and “redemption machine” from definition of “gambling device” and added Subdivs. (11) and (12) defining those terms; P.A. 95-79 redefined “person” to include limited liability companies, effective May 31, 1995; P.A. 00-99 amended Subdiv. (9) by deleting reference to sheriff and deputy sheriff and adding provision re state marshal exercising statutory authority and judicial marshal in performance of duties, effective December 1, 2000; Jan. 6 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-1 amended definition of “gambling” in Subdiv. (2) by adding reference to “the playing of a casino gambling game such as blackjack, poker, craps, roulette or a slot machine”, deleting reference to Sec. 7-186l and substituting reference to Sec. 7-186, amended definition of “professional gambling” in Subdiv. (3) by deleting reference to Sec. 7-186l and substituting reference to Sec. 7-186, and amended definition of “gambling premises” in Subdiv. (7) by deleting reference to games of chance for which a permit was issued under Secs. 7-186a to 7-186l, inclusive, effective January 7, 2003.

See Secs. 52-553, 52-554 re wagering contracts and recovery of money lost in gaming.

Subdiv. (5):

Cited (erroneously as Sec. 52-278a(5)). 196 C. 471.