Penal Law § 225.10

Promoting gambling in the first degree · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 225.10 Promoting gambling in the first degree.

A person is guilty of promoting gambling in the first degree when he knowingly advances or profits from unlawful gambling activity by:

1. Engaging in bookmaking to the extent that he receives or accepts in any one day more than five bets totaling more than five thousand dollars; or

2. Receiving, in connection with a lottery or policy scheme or enterprise, (a) money or written records from a person other than a player whose chances or plays are represented by such money or records, or (b) more than five hundred dollars in any one day of money played in such scheme or enterprise.

Promoting gambling in the first degree is a class E felony.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/225.10

In plain English

A person commits first-degree promoting gambling by knowingly advancing or profiting from unlawful gambling through:

(1) bookmaking that accepts in 1 day more than 5 bets totaling over $5,000; or
(2)(a) receiving lottery or policy money or records from someone other than the represented player; or
(2)(b) receiving over $500 in 1 day in money played in that scheme. ★

The offense is a class E felony.

Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.

In print

This provision appears in Volume 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.