Florida Penny-Ante Games Capped at $10 Per Hand

Fla. Stat. § 849.085 carves out a narrow exception to Florida's gambling laws for penny-ante games, poker, pinochle, bridge, rummy, canasta, hearts, dominoes, or mah-jongg, where "the winnings of any player in a single round, hand, or game do not exceed $10 in value." Subsection (1) states plainly that it "is not a crime for a person to participate" if the game meets every condition in the statute; miss one and the participant falls back under Chapter 849's general gambling prohibitions.

Location matters as much as the stakes. Subsection (3)(a) requires the game be "conducted in a dwelling," a term subsection (2)(b) defines broadly: a participant's own home, the common elements or common areas of a condo, co-op, subdivision, or mobile home park where a participant is a unit owner, the facilities of a tax-exempt 501(c)(7) club, a college dorm room or dorm common area, or a publicly owned community center run by a municipality or county. A commercial card room, bar, or rented event space doesn't qualify.

Four more conditions apply at the same time: no one may take "consideration or commission" for hosting the game (subsection 3(b)); no admission or participation fee, direct or indirect (3(c)); no advertising the game, its time or place, or the fact that someone will be playing (3(d)); and every participant must be 18 or older (3(e)). Subsection (4) makes any debt from the game legally unenforceable, a winner can't sue to collect. Subsection (5) shields condo, co-op, HOA, and mobile-home associations, dwelling owners, and municipalities or counties from civil liability for damages arising from a penny-ante game on their property, so long as the association or owner wasn't itself a participant.

There's no dedicated penalty schedule inside § 849.085 itself, the statute works by removing the crime, not creating one. Play outside its bounds (stakes over $10 a hand, a fee charged, advertising, an underage player, or a location outside the "dwelling" definition) and the game reverts to ordinary illegal gambling under Chapter 849, prosecutable as a misdemeanor or felony depending on the specific offense, running a house, bookmaking, or gambling in a public place.