Chapter 3763 | Gaming

Section 3763.01 | Gaming contracts void.

• Effective: July 1, 2003
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 512 - 124th General Assembly

(A) All promises, agreements, notes, bills, bonds, or other contracts, mortgages, or other securities, when the whole or part of the consideration thereof is for money or other valuable thing won or lost, laid, staked, or betted at or upon a game of any kind, or upon a horse race or cockfights, sport or pastime, or on a wager, or for the repayment of money lent or advanced at the time of a game, play, or wager, for the purpose of being laid, betted, staked, or wagered, are void.

(B) Sections 3763.01 to 3763.08 of the Revised Code do not apply to bingo as defined in section 2915.01 of the Revised Code or to any game of chance that is not subject to criminal penalties under section 2915.02 of the Revised Code.

Section 3763.02 | Money lost at games may be recovered - exceptions.

• Effective: October 1, 1953
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 1 - 100th General Assembly

If a person, by playing a game, or by a wager, loses to another, money or other thing of value, and pays or delivers it or a part thereof, to the winner thereof, such person losing and paying or delivering, within six months after such loss and payment or delivery, may sue for and recover such money or thing of value or part thereof, from the winner thereof, with costs of suit.

Neither this section nor section 3763.04 of the Revised Code shall apply to any business transacted upon a regularly established stock exchange or board of trade through a member thereof whose relation to the transaction is that of broker only, and who actually delivers or receives the securities or other commodity bought or sold in accordance with the rules and regulations of said stock exchange or board of trade.

Section 3763.03 | Sufficiency of allegations in pleading.

• Effective: October 1, 1953
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 1 - 100th General Assembly

In the prosecution of an action under sections 3763.02 of the Revised Code, the plaintiff need only allege that the defendant is indebted to the plaintiff for, or received to the plaintiff's use, the money so lost and paid, or converted the goods won of the plaintiff to the defendant's use, whereby the plaintiff's action accrued to him, without setting forth the special matter.

Section 3763.04 | Suit by third party.

• Effective: October 1, 1953
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 1 - 100th General Assembly

If a person losing money or thing of value, as provided in section 3763.02 of the Revised Code, within the time therein specified, and without collusion or deceit, does not sue, and effectively prosecute, for such money or thing of value, any person may sue for and recover it, with costs of suit, against such winner, for the use of such person prosecuting such suit.

Section 3763.05 | Action for discovery.

• Effective: October 1, 1953
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 1 - 100th General Assembly

A person, liable under sections 3763.01 to 3763.08, inclusive, of the Revised Code, may be compelled to answer, upon oath, interrogatories annexed to the petition for the purpose of discovery of his liability. Upon discovery and repayment of the money or other thing, the person discovering and repaying it, with costs, shall be acquitted and discharged from further punishment, penalty, or forfeiture, for winning such money or thing discovered and repaid.

Section 3763.06 | Liability of property for losses occurring thereon.

• Effective: October 12, 2016
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 158 - 131st General Assembly

As used in this section, "incompetent person" means a person who is so mentally impaired, as a result of a mental or physical illness or disability, as a result of an intellectual disability, or as a result of chronic substance abuse, that the person is incapable of taking proper care of the person's self or property or fails to provide for the person's family or other persons for whom the person is charged by law to provide.

The property, both real and personal, of a defendant against whom a judgment is rendered under sections 3763.01 to 3763.08 of the Revised Code, for fines, costs, or to recover money or any other thing of value, lost or paid, shall be liable therefor without exemption, and such judgment shall be a lien thereon until paid. If the owner of the building in which the money was lost knowingly permits it to be used for gaming purposes, such building, and the real estate upon which it stands, shall be liable therefor in a like manner. The guardian or trustee of a minor or incompetent person, permitting property under the guardian's or trustee's charge to be used for gaming purposes and to become liable on account thereof, shall be liable to the guardian's or trustee's ward for such amount.

Section 3763.07 | Contracts concerning property used for gaming are void.

• Effective: March 17, 1987
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 158 - 116th General Assembly

When premises are occupied for gaming or lottery purposes, the lease or agreement under which they are so occupied shall be void, at the instance of the lessor, who may at any time obtain possession of the premises by civil action, or by an action under Chapter 1923. of the Revised Code. If a person leases premises for gaming or lottery purposes, or knowingly permits them to be so used and occupied, and fails forthwith to prosecute, in good faith, an action for the recovery of such premises, such lessor shall be considered in all cases, civil and criminal, as a principal in carrying on the business of gaming, or a lottery, on such premises.

Section 3763.08 | Recovery of losses in lotteries.

• Effective: October 1, 1953
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 1 - 100th General Assembly

A person who expends money or thing of value or incurs an obligation for the purchase of or to procure a lottery or policy ticket, hazard, or chance, or an interest therein, in or on account of lottery, policy, scheme of chance, game of faro, pool or combination, keno, or scheme of gambling, or a person dependent for support upon or entitled to the earnings of such person, or a citizen for the use of the person so interested, may sue for and recover from the person receiving such money, thing of value, or obligation, the amount thereof, with exemplary damages, which shall not be less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars, and may join as defendants in such suit all persons having an interest in such lottery, policy, or scheme of chance, or the possible profits thereof, as backers, vendors, owners, or otherwise.