A person commits gambling when he or she:
(A) Plays a game of chance or skill for money or other thing of value, unless excepted in this code;
(B) Makes a wager upon the result of any game, contest or any political nomination, appointment or election;
(C) Operates, keeps, owns, uses, purchases, exhibits, rents, sells, bargains for the sale or lease of, manufactures or distributes any gambling device;
(D) Contracts to have or give himself or 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 the 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 the 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 Ill. Rev. Stat., Ch. 121-1/2, § 137.8, or by or through a person exempt from the registration under Ch. 121-1/2, § 137.8 of a put, call or other option to buy or sell securities which have been registered with the Secretary of State, or which are exempt from the registration under Ill. Rev. Stat., Ch. 121-1/2, § 137.8 is not gambling within the meaning of this division;
(E) 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;
(F) Sells pools upon the result of any game or contest of skill or chance, political nomination, appointment or election;
(G) Sets up or promotes any lottery or sells, offers to sell or transfers any ticket or share for any lottery;
(H) 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;
(I) 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
(J) Knowingly transmits information as to wagers, 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 the information; except that nothing in this division (J) prohibits transmission or receipt of the information for use in news reporting of sporting events or contests.
(Ill. Rev. Stat., Ch. 38, § 28-1) (1994 Code, § 27-6-8) Penalty, see § 130.999