Request By:
Honorable David R. Steele,
Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney
City - County Building
3rd and Court Streets
Covington, Kentucky 41011
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; (Miss) Pat Douglas Davis, Assistant Attorney General
This is in response to your inquiry regarding the 500 "plays or chances" requirement of KRS 528.050(1)(b).
It is our conclusion that in order to meet this requirement, and hence be liable for a felony as opposed to misdemeanor, the 500 plays or chances must occur in one of two ways.
Firstly, the 500 plays may be accumulated by counting up the number of different bets offered by the sports bookmaker at a single time. In other words, if a bettor could place 500 different bets at the same time, then the possessor of such records would be liable for prosecution under KRS 528.050. It would not be necessary that the 500 separate betting chances be a single event, tournament or sport. It is our determination that if a bettor could phone or enter a single establishment, and place wagers on anything from college basketball to the Albuquerque Greyhound Derby, the possessor would be liable under KRS 528.050 if the number of total unrelated wagers reached 500.
The second possible method to compute the 500 bet requirement is found in the wording of the statute itself. KRS 528.050(1)(b) speaks of " operation, promotion or playing of a lottery or mutual scheme. " Obviously, an operation or scheme envisions something more than a single day of betting. One who possessed gambling records showing the chance, over a period of time, to place at least 500 bets, would also be liable under KRS 528.050. Examples would be a scheme to conduct betting over the entire football season or Latonia's winter race meeting. When the total betting chances reach 500, liability would occur.
The basketball betting card enclosed in your inquiry could qualify for either of the possibilities outlined above, depending on the precise circumstances. If this scheme takes place every week, you need show only that at some point the chances numbered at least 500. Or, if it was a one-shot type of operation, and that single day's bets reached 500, liability could also be predicated thereon.
If you have any further inquiries about this matter, please so advise.