(A) A person commits the offense of gambling when he or she:
(1) Plays a game of chance or skill for money or other thing of value, unless excepted in division (B) of this section;
(2) Makes a wager upon the result of any game, contest or any political nomination, appointment or election;
(3) Operates, keeps, owns, uses, purchases, exhibits, rents, sells, bargains for the sale or tease of, manufactures or distributes any gambling device;
(4) Contracts to have or give himself, herself or another the option to buy or sell, or contracts to buy or sell, at a future time, any grain or other commodity whatsoever, or any stock or security of any company, where it is at the time of making such contract intended by both parties thereto that the contract to buy or sell, or the option, whenever exercised, or the contract resulting therefrom, shall be settled, not by the receipt or delivery of such property, but by the payment only of differences in prices thereof; however, the issuance, purchase, sale, exercise, endorsement or guarantee, by or through a person registered with the Secretary of State pursuant to § 8 of the Illinois Securities Law of 1953, Ill. Rev. Stat. Ch. 121-1/2, § 137, or by or through a person exempt from such registration under said Section 8, of a put, call, or other option to buy or sell securities which have been registered with the Secretary of State of which are exempt from such registration under § 3 of the Illinois Securities Law of 1953, Ill. Rev. Stat. Ch. 121-1/2, § 137, is not gambling with the meaning of this division (A)(4);
(5) Knowingly owns or possesses any book, instrument or apparatus by means of which bets or wagers have been, or are, recorded or registered, or knowingly possesses any money which he or she has received in the course of a bet or wager;
(6) Sells pools upon the result of any game or contest of skill or chance, political nomination, appointment or election;
(7) Sets up or promotes any lottery or sells, offers to sell or transfer any ticket or share for any lottery;
(8) Sets up or promotes any policy game or sells, offers to sell or knowingly possesses or transfers any policy ticket, slip, record, document or other similar device;
(9) Knowingly advertises any lottery or policy game or drafts, prints or publishes any lottery ticket or share, or any policy ticket, slip, record, document or similar device, or any advertisement of any lottery or policy game; or
(10) Knowingly transmits information as to waivers, betting odds or changes in betting odds by telephone, telegraph, radio, semaphore or similar means; or knowingly installs or maintains equipment for the transmission or receipt of such information; except that, nothing in this division (A)(10) prohibits transmission or receipt of such information for use in news reporting of sporting events or contests.
(B) Participants in any of the following activities shall not be convicted of gambling:
(1) Agreements to compensate for loss caused by the happening of chance including without limitation contracts of indemnity of guaranty and life or health or accident insurance;
(2) Offers of prizes, award or compensation to the actual contestants in any bona fide contest for the determination of skill, speed, strength or endurance or to the owners of animals or vehicles entered in such contest;
(3) Pari-mutuel betting as authorized by the law of this state;
(4) Manufacture of gambling devices, including the acquisition of essential parts therefor and the assemble thereof, for transportation in interstate or foreign commerce to any place outside this state when such transportation is not prohibited by any applicable federal law;
(5) The game commonly known as “bingo” when conducted in accordance with an Act Making Lawful the Conducting of Bingo by Certain Non-profit Organizations, Requiring Licensing and Prescribing Regulations Therefor, Ill. Rev. Stat. Ch. 120, § 1101.
(6) Lotteries when conducted by the State of Illinois in accordance with the Illinois Lottery Law, enacted by the 78th General Assembly, Ill. Rev. Stat. Ch. 120.
(C) In prosecutions under divisions (A)(1) through (A)(10) above, circumstantial evidence shall have the same validity and weight as in any criminal prosecution.
(Prior Code, § 47-7.8) Penalty, see § 135.999