2023 Indiana Code › Title 35. Criminal Law and Procedure › Article 45. Offenses Against Public Health, Order, and Decency › Chapter 5. Gambling › 35-45-5-1. Definitions

Sec. 1. (a) The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.
(b) "Electronic gaming device" means any electromechanical device, electrical device, or machine that satisfies at least one (1) of the following requirements:
(1) It is a contrivance which for consideration affords the player an opportunity to obtain money or other items of value, the award of which is determined by chance even if accomplished by some skill, whether or not the prize is automatically paid by the contrivance.
(2) It is a slot machine or any simulation or variation of a slot machine.
(3) It is a matchup or lineup game machine or device operated for consideration, in which two (2) or more numerals, symbols, letters, or icons align in a winning combination on one (1) or more lines vertically, horizontally, diagonally, or otherwise, without assistance by the player. The use of a skill stop is not considered assistance by the player.
(4) It is a video game machine or device operated for consideration to play poker, blackjack, any other card game, keno, or any simulation or variation of these games, including any game in which numerals, numbers, pictures, representations, or symbols are used as an equivalent or substitute for the cards used in these games.
The term does not include a toy crane machine or any other device played for amusement that rewards a player exclusively with a toy, a novelty, candy, other noncash merchandise, or a ticket or coupon redeemable for a toy, a novelty, or other noncash merchandise that has a wholesale value of not more than the lesser of ten (10) times the amount charged to play the amusement device one (1) time or twenty-five dollars ($25).
(c) "Gain" means the direct realization of winnings.
(d) "Gambling" means risking money or other property for gain, contingent in whole or in part upon lot, chance, or the operation of a gambling device, but it does not include participating in:
(1) bona fide contests of skill, speed, strength, or endurance in which awards are made only to entrants or the owners of entries; or
(2) bona fide business transactions that are valid under the law of contracts.
(e) "Gambling device" means:
(1) a mechanism by the operation of which a right to money or other property may be credited, in return for consideration, as the result of the operation of an element of chance;
(2) a mechanism that, when operated for a consideration, does not return the same value or property for the same consideration upon each operation;
(3) a mechanism, furniture, fixture, construction, or installation designed primarily for use in connection with professional gambling;
(4) a policy ticket or wheel; or
(5) a subassembly or essential part designed or intended for use in connection with such a device, mechanism, furniture, fixture, construction, or installation.
In the application of this definition, an immediate and unrecorded right to replay mechanically conferred on players of pinball machines and similar amusement devices is presumed to be without value.
(f) "Gambling information" means:
(1) a communication with respect to a wager made in the course of professional gambling; or
(2) information intended to be used for professional gambling.
(g) "Interactive computer service" means an Internet service, an information service, a system, or an access software provider that provides or enables computer access to a computer served by multiple users. The term includes the following:
(1) A service or system that provides access or is an intermediary to the Internet.
(2) A system operated or services offered by a library, school, state educational institution, or private postsecondary educational institution.
(h) "Operator" means a person who owns, maintains, or operates an Internet site that is used for interactive gambling.
(i) "Profit" means a realized or unrealized benefit (other than a gain) and includes benefits from proprietorship or management and unequal advantage in a series of transactions.
(j) "Tournament" means a contest in which:
(1) the consideration to enter the contest may take the form of a separate entry fee or the deposit of the required consideration to play in any manner accepted by the:
(A) video golf machine; or
(B) pinball machine or similar amusement device described in subsection (m)(2);
on which the entrant will compete;
(2) each player's score is recorded; and
(3) the contest winner and other prize winners are determined by objectively comparing the recorded scores of the competing players.
(k) "Toy crane machine" means a device that is used to lift prizes from an enclosed space by manipulating a mechanical claw.
(l) For purposes of this chapter:
(1) a card game; or
(2) an electronic version of a card game;
is a game of chance and may not be considered a bona fide contest of skill.
(m) In the application of the definition of gambling set forth in subsection (d), the payment of consideration to participate in a tournament conducted on:
(1) video golf games; or
(2) pinball machines and similar amusement devices that award no prizes other than to mechanically confer an immediate and unrecorded right to replay on players that is presumed to be without value under this section;
is not considered gambling even if the value of a prize awarded in the course of the tournament exceeds the amount of the player's consideration.
As added by Acts 1976, P.L.148, SEC.5. Amended by Acts 1977, P.L.340, SEC.80; P.L.70-2005, SEC.2; P.L.2-2007, SEC.377; P.L.227-2007, SEC.64; P.L.3-2008, SEC.252.