Terms Used In Ohio Code > Chapter 2915 - Gambling

• Another: when used to designate the owner of property which is the subject of an offense, includes not only natural persons but also every other owner of property. See Ohio Code 1.02
• anything of value: includes :

  (A) Money, bank bills or notes, United States treasury notes, and other bills, bonds, or notes issued by lawful authority and intended to pass and circulate as money;

  (B) Goods and chattels;

  (C) Promissory notes, bills of exchange, orders, drafts, warrants, checks, or bonds given for the payment of money;

  (D) Receipts given for the payment of money or other property;

  (E) Rights in action;

  (F) Things which savor of the realty and are, at the time they are taken, a part of the freehold, whether they are of the substance or produce thereof or affixed thereto, although there may be no interval between the severing and taking away;

  (G) Any interest in realty, including fee simple and partial interests, present and future, contingent or vested interests, beneficial interests, leasehold interests, and any other interest in realty;

  (H) Any promise of future employment;

  (I) Every other thing of value. See Ohio Code 1.03

• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Bet: means the hazarding of anything of value upon the result of an event, undertaking, or contingency, but does not include a bona fide business risk. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Bingo: means either of the following:

  (1) A game with all of the following characteristics:

  (a) The participants use bingo cards or sheets, including paper formats and electronic representation or image formats, that are divided into twenty-five spaces arranged in five horizontal and five vertical rows of spaces, with each space, except the central space, being designated by a combination of a letter and a number and with the central space being designated as a free space. See Ohio Code 2915.01

• Bingo game operator: means any person, except security personnel, who performs work or labor at the site of bingo, including, but not limited to, collecting money from participants, handing out bingo cards or sheets or objects to cover spaces on bingo cards or sheets, selecting from a receptacle the objects that contain the combination of letters and numbers that appear on bingo cards or sheets, calling out the combinations of letters and numbers, distributing prizes, selling or redeeming instant bingo tickets or cards, selling or redeeming electronic instant bingo tickets, credits, or vouchers, accessing an electronic instant bingo system other than as a participant, supervising the operation of a punch board, selling raffle tickets, selecting raffle tickets from a receptacle and announcing the winning numbers in a raffle, and preparing, selling, and serving food or beverages. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Bingo session: means a period that includes both of the following:

  (1) Not to exceed five continuous hours for the conduct of one or more games described in division (O)(1) of this section, instant bingo, and electronic instant bingo;

  (2) A period for the conduct of instant bingo and electronic instant bingo for not more than two hours before and not more than two hours after the period described in division (S)(1) of this section. See Ohio Code 2915.01

• Bingo supplies: means bingo cards or sheets; instant bingo tickets or cards; electronic bingo aids; raffle tickets; punch boards; seal cards; instant bingo ticket dispensers; electronic instant bingo systems; and devices for selecting or displaying the combination of bingo letters and numbers or raffle tickets. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Bond: includes an undertaking. See Ohio Code 1.02
• Bookmaking: means the business of receiving or paying off bets. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Charitable bingo game: means any bingo game described in division (O)(1) or (2) of this section that is conducted by a charitable organization that has obtained a license pursuant to section 2915. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Charitable instant bingo organization: means an organization that is exempt from federal income taxation under subsection 501(a) and described in subsection 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is a charitable organization as defined in this section. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• charitable organization: means either of the following:

  (1) An organization that is exempt from federal income taxation under subsection 501(a) and described in subsection 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code;

  (2) A volunteer rescue service organization, volunteer firefighter's organization, veteran's organization, fraternal organization, or sporting organization that is exempt from federal income taxation under subsection 501(c)(4), (c)(7), (c)(8), (c)(10), or (c)(19) of the Internal Revenue Code. See Ohio Code 2915.01

• Charitable purpose: means that the net profit of bingo, other than instant bingo or electronic instant bingo, is used by, or is given, donated, or otherwise transferred to, any of the following:

  (1) Any organization that is described in subsection 509(a)(1), 509(a)(2), or 509(a)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is either a governmental unit or an organization that is tax exempt under subsection 501(a) and described in subsection 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code;

  (2) A veteran's organization that is a post, chapter, or organization of veterans, or an auxiliary unit or society of, or a trust or foundation for, any such post, chapter, or organization organized in the United States or any of its possessions, at least seventy-five per cent of the members of which are veterans and substantially all of the other members of which are individuals who are spouses, widows, or widowers of veterans, or such individuals, provided that no part of the net earnings of such post, chapter, or organization inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual, and further provided that the net profit is used by the post, chapter, or organization for the charitable purposes set forth in division (B)(12) of section 5739. See Ohio Code 2915.01

• Conduct: means to back, promote, organize, manage, carry on, sponsor, or prepare for the operation of bingo or a game of chance, a scheme of chance, or a sweepstakes. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Deal: means a single game of instant bingo tickets, or a single game of electronic instant bingo tickets, all with the same serial number. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Distributor: means any person who purchases or obtains bingo supplies and who does either of the following:

  (1) Sells, offers for sale, or otherwise provides or offers to provide the bingo supplies to another person for use in this state;

  (2) Modifies, converts, adds to, or removes parts from the bingo supplies to further their promotion or sale for use in this state. See Ohio Code 2915.01

• Electronic bingo aid: means an electronic device used by a participant to monitor bingo cards or sheets purchased at the time and place of a bingo session and that does all of the following:

  (a) It provides a means for a participant to input numbers and letters announced by a bingo caller. See Ohio Code 2915.01

• electronic device: means a mechanical, video, digital, or electronic machine or device that is capable of displaying information on a screen or other mechanism and that is owned, leased, or otherwise possessed by any person conducting a scheme of chance, or by that person's partners, affiliates, subsidiaries, or contractors. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Electronic instant bingo: means a form of bingo that consists of an electronic or digital representation of instant bingo in which a participant wins a prize if the participant's electronic instant bingo ticket contains a combination of numbers or symbols that was designated in advance as a winning combination, and to which all of the following apply:

  (a) Each deal has a predetermined, finite number of winning and losing tickets and a predetermined prize amount and deal structure, provided that there may be multiple winning combinations in each deal and multiple winning tickets. See Ohio Code 2915.01

• Electronic instant bingo system: means both of the following:

  (1) A mechanical, electronic, digital, or video device and associated software to which all of the following apply:

  (a) It is used by not more than one player at a time to play electronic instant bingo on a single screen that is physically connected to the device;

  (b) It is located on the premises of the principal place of business of a veteran's or fraternal organization that holds a type II or type III bingo license to conduct electronic instant bingo at that location issued under section 2915. See Ohio Code 2915.01

• Enter: means the act by which a person becomes eligible to receive any prize offered in a sweepstakes. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Entry: means one event from the initial activation of the sweepstakes terminal device until all the sweepstakes prize results from that activation are revealed. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Expenses: means the reasonable amount of gross profit actually expended for all of the following:

  (1) The purchase or lease of bingo supplies;

  (2) The annual license fee required under section 2915. See Ohio Code 2915.01

• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fraternal organization: means any society, order, state headquarters, or association within this state, except a college or high school fraternity, that is not organized for profit, that is a branch, lodge, or chapter of a national or state organization, that exists exclusively for the common business or sodality of its members. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gambling device: means any of the following:

  (1) A book, totalizer, or other equipment for recording bets;

  (2) A ticket, token, or other device representing a chance, share, or interest in a scheme of chance or evidencing a bet;

  (3) A deck of cards, dice, gaming table, roulette wheel, slot machine, or other apparatus designed for use in connection with a game of chance;

  (4) Any equipment, device, apparatus, or paraphernalia specially designed for gambling purposes;

  (5) Bingo supplies sold or otherwise provided, or used, in violation of this chapter. See Ohio Code 2915.01

• Gambling offense: means any of the following:

  (1) A violation of this chapter;

  (2) A violation of an existing or former municipal ordinance or law of this or any other state or the United States substantially equivalent to any provision of this chapter or a violation of section 2915. See Ohio Code 2915.01

• Game flare: means the board or placard, or electronic representation of a board or placard, that accompanies each deal of instant bingo or electronic instant bingo tickets and that includes the following information for the game:

  (1) The name of the game;

  (2) The manufacturer's name or distinctive logo;

  (3) The form number;

  (4) The ticket count;

  (5) The prize structure, including the number of winning tickets by denomination and the respective winning symbol or number combinations for the winning tickets;

  (6) The cost per play;

  (7) The serial number of the game. See Ohio Code 2915.01

• Game of chance: means poker, craps, roulette, or other game in which a player gives anything of value in the hope of gain, the outcome of which is determined largely by chance, but does not include bingo. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Game of chance conducted for profit: means any game of chance designed to produce income for the person who conducts or operates the game of chance, but does not include bingo. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Gross profit: means gross receipts minus the amount actually expended for the payment of prize awards. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Gross receipts: means all money or assets, including admission fees, that a person receives from bingo without the deduction of any amounts for prizes paid out or for the expenses of conducting bingo. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, symbols, or figures; this provision does not affect any law relating to signatures. See Ohio Code 1.59
• Instant bingo: means a form of bingo that shall use folded or banded tickets or paper cards with perforated break-open tabs, a face of which is covered or otherwise hidden from view to conceal a number, letter, or symbol, or set of numbers, letters, or symbols, some of which have been designated in advance as prize winners, and may also include games in which some winners are determined by the random selection of one or more bingo numbers by the use of a seal card or bingo blower. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Instant bingo ticket dispenser: means a mechanical device that dispenses an instant bingo ticket or card as the sole item of value dispensed and that has the following characteristics:

  (1) It is activated upon the insertion of United States currency. See Ohio Code 2915.01

• Internal Revenue Code: means the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986" 100 Stat. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Manufacturer: means any person who assembles completed bingo supplies from raw materials, other items, or subparts or who modifies, converts, adds to, or removes parts from bingo supplies to further their promotion or sale. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Merchandise prize: means any item of value, but shall not include any of the following:

  (1) Cash, gift cards, or any equivalent thereof;

  (2) Plays on games of chance, state lottery tickets, or bingo;

  (3) Firearms, tobacco, or alcoholic beverages; or

  (4) A redeemable voucher that is redeemable for any of the items listed in division (VV)(1), (2), or (3) of this section. See Ohio Code 2915.01

• Net profit: means gross profit minus expenses. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Net profit from the proceeds of the sale of instant bingo or electronic instant bingo: means gross profit minus the ordinary, necessary, and reasonable expense expended for the purchase of bingo supplies for the purpose of conducting instant bingo or electronic instant bingo, and, in the case of instant bingo or electronic instant bingo conducted by a veteran's, fraternal, or sporting organization, minus the payment by that organization of real property taxes and assessments levied on a premises on which instant bingo or electronic instant bingo is conducted. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Participant: means any person who plays bingo. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
• Pool not conducted for profit: means a scheme in which a participant gives a valuable consideration for a chance to win a prize and the total amount of consideration wagered is distributed to a participant or participants. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Prize: means any gift, award, gratuity, good, service, credit, reward, or any other thing of value that may be transferred to a person, whether possession of the prize is actually transferred, or placed on an account or other record as evidence of the intent to transfer the prize. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Property: means real and personal property. See Ohio Code 1.59
• Punch board: means a form of instant bingo that uses a board containing a number of holes or receptacles of uniform size in which are placed, mechanically and randomly, serially numbered slips of paper that may be punched or drawn from the hole or receptacle. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Raffle: means a form of bingo in which the one or more prizes are won by one or more persons who have purchased a raffle ticket. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Redeemable voucher: means any ticket, token, coupon, receipt, or other noncash representation of value. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Religious organization: means any church, body of communicants, or group that is not organized or operated for profit and that gathers in common membership for regular worship and religious observances. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Revoke: means to void permanently all rights and privileges of the holder of a license issued under section 2915. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Rule: includes regulation. See Ohio Code 1.59
• Scheme of chance: includes the use of an electronic device to reveal the results of a game entry if valuable consideration is paid, directly or indirectly, for a chance to win a prize. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Seal card: means a form of instant bingo that uses instant bingo tickets in conjunction with a board or placard that contains one or more seals that, when removed or opened, reveal predesignated winning numbers, letters, or symbols. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Security personnel: includes any person who either is a sheriff, deputy sheriff, marshal, deputy marshal, township constable, or member of an organized police department of a municipal corporation or has successfully completed a peace officer's training course pursuant to sections 109. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Skill-based amusement machine: means a mechanical, video, digital, or electronic device that rewards the player or players, if at all, only with merchandise prizes or with redeemable vouchers redeemable only for merchandise prizes, provided that with respect to rewards for playing the game all of the following apply:

  (a) The wholesale value of a merchandise prize awarded as a result of the single play of a machine does not exceed ten dollars;

  (b) Redeemable vouchers awarded for any single play of a machine are not redeemable for a merchandise prize with a wholesale value of more than ten dollars;

  (c) Redeemable vouchers are not redeemable for a merchandise prize that has a wholesale value of more than ten dollars times the fewest number of single plays necessary to accrue the redeemable vouchers required to obtain that prize; and

  (d) Any redeemable vouchers or merchandise prizes are distributed at the site of the skill-based amusement machine at the time of play. See Ohio Code 2915.01

• Slot machine: means either of the following:

  (a) Any mechanical, electronic, video, or digital device that is capable of accepting anything of value, directly or indirectly, from or on behalf of a player who gives the thing of value in the hope of gain;

  (b) Any mechanical, electronic, video, or digital device that is capable of accepting anything of value, directly or indirectly, from or on behalf of a player to conduct bingo or a scheme or game of chance. See Ohio Code 2915.01

• Sporting organization: means a hunting, fishing, or trapping organization, other than a college or high school fraternity or sorority, that is not organized for profit, that is affiliated with a state or national sporting organization, including but not limited to, the league of Ohio sportsmen, and that has been in continuous existence in this state for a period of three years. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
• Suspend: means to interrupt temporarily all rights and privileges of the holder of a license issued under section 2915. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Sweepstakes: means any game, contest, advertising scheme or plan, or other promotion where consideration is not required for a person to enter to win or become eligible to receive any prize, the determination of which is based upon chance. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Sweepstakes terminal device: means a mechanical, video, digital, or electronic machine or device that is owned, leased, or otherwise possessed by any person conducting a sweepstakes, or by that person's partners, affiliates, subsidiaries, or contractors, that is intended to be used by a sweepstakes participant, and that is capable of displaying information on a screen or other mechanism. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Sweepstakes terminal device facility: means any location in this state where a sweepstakes terminal device is provided to a sweepstakes participant, except as provided in division (G) of section 2915. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Undertaking: includes a bond. See Ohio Code 1.02
• United States: includes all the states. See Ohio Code 1.59
• Volunteer rescue service organization: means any organization of volunteers organized to function as an emergency medical service organization, as defined in section 4765. See Ohio Code 2915.01
• Whoever: includes all persons, natural and artificial; partners; principals, agents, and employees; and all officials, public or private. See Ohio Code 1.02
• Youth athletic park organization: means any organization, not organized for profit, that satisfies both of the following:

  (1) It owns, operates, and maintains playing fields that satisfy both of the following:

  (a) The playing fields are used for athletic activities by one or more organizations, not organized for profit, each of which is organized and operated exclusively to provide financial support to, or to operate, athletic activities for persons who are eighteen years of age or younger by means of sponsoring, organizing, operating, or contributing to the support of an athletic team, club, league, or association. See Ohio Code 2915.01