Pennsylvania Bans Private Social Gambling Under §5513

§ 5513 for games played at home among friends. Subsection (a) makes it a first-degree misdemeanor to 'intentionally or knowingly' make or offer 'any punch board, drawing card, slot machine or any device to be used for gambling purposes, except playing cards' (the playing-cards exception covers the deck itself, not the wager on it). More relevant to a living-room game, (a)(2) bars anyone from 'allow[ing] persons to collect and assemble for the purpose of unlawful gambling at any place under his control,' and (a)(4) bars an 'owner, tenant, lessee or occupant' from 'knowingly permit[ting]' their own premises to be used for unlawful gambling.

Both apply to a host running a home poker night the same way they apply to a bar owner running a back-room game, the statute does not distinguish by venue, stakes, or whether the host takes a cut. §§ 5803-5808 (subsection (b)). 1), added in 2012, confirms the only lawful exceptions: activity conducted under the State Lottery Law, the Bingo Law, the Local Option Small Games of Chance Act, or licensed amusements under Title 4, all organized, licensed activity, none of it a private game.

§ 1101(2)). The section has been amended five times since its 1978 enactment, most recently by Act 13 of 2017, and none of those amendments added a social- or private-gambling exception.

A first-degree misdemeanor under § 5513(a) is punishable by up to five years in prison (18 Pa.C.S. § 1104(1)) and a fine of up to $10,000 (18 Pa.C.S. § 1101(2)). Any punch board, slot machine, or other gambling device tied to the offense is seized and forfeited to the Commonwealth through the asset-forfeiture process in 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 5803-5808. There is no reduced penalty tier for a first-time host or a purely social, no-rake game.