Opinion ID: 2612255
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: criminal lottery

Text: We next address whether Ordinance 79-53 is invalid on the basis that it violates the statute prohibiting certain forms of gambling in the state. AS 11.66.200 states in part: (a) A person commits the offense of gambling if he engages in unlawful gambling. (Emphasis added.) Unlawful is defined in AS 11.66.280(11) as not specifically authorized by law. AS 11.66.280(2) defines gambling as follows: [G]ambling means that a person stakes or risks something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under his control or influence, upon an agreement or understanding that he or someone else will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome. The superior court concluded that Ordinance 79-53 violated AS 11.60.010 because the ordinance set up a lottery. The court stated: By payment of the consideration of $10.00, an applicant may make unlimited filings on a particular parcel of property. Whether or not the particular applicant is selected is purely chance, and the prize that he or she gains by that selection is the right or option, which is a valuable property right, to purchase property from the borough. Even assuming that the superior court correctly decided that the land sale lottery constitutes a form of gambling, [1] we conclude that the lottery does not violate AS 11.60.010 because it is specifically authorized by law and is, thus, not unlawful gambling. AS 29.48.260(d) specifically states, The assembly or council [of a municipality] may by ordinance establish a formal procedure for the acquisition from the state of land or rights in land and the disposal of the land or rights in land, in which event the [other] provisions of ... this section do not apply. The Kenai Peninsula Borough has, in the exercise of its statutory powers, authorized the sale by lottery of land acquired from the state in its enactment of Ordinance 79-53. In accordance with article X, section 1, of the Alaska Constitution, AS 29.48.310 provides that [a] liberal construction shall be given to all powers and functions of boroughs and cities conferred in this title. AS 29.48.320 states that [u]nless otherwise limited by law, boroughs and cities have and may exercise all powers and functions necessary or fairly implied in or incident to the object or purpose of all powers and functions conferred in this title. In view of the permissibility of sales of state land by lottery, [2] we conclude that the Kenai Peninsula Borough properly exercised its fairly implied power to authorize the sale by lottery of its lands acquired from the state. We further conclude that Ordinance 79-53 is not invalid even though it arguably conflicts with AS 11.60.010. As we stated in Jefferson v. State, 527 P.2d 37, 43 (Alaska 1974): A municipal ordinance is not necessarily invalid in Alaska because it is inconsistent or in conflict with a state statute. The question rests on whether the exercise of authority has been prohibited to municipalities. The prohibition must be either by express terms or by implication such as where the statute and ordinance are so substantially irreconcilable that one cannot be given its substantive effect if the other is to be accorded the weight of law. Accord City of Kodiak v. Jackson, 584 P.2d 1130, 1132 (Alaska 1978); Johnson v. City of Fairbanks, 583 P.2d 181, 184 (Alaska 1978); Simpson v. Municipality of Anchorage, 635 P.2d 1197, 1200 (Alaska App. 1981). Municipalities have not been expressly prohibited from authorizing land sale lotteries and Ordinance 79-53 is not irreconcilable with AS 11.60.010; the statute only prohibits gambling not authorized by law and Ordinance 79-53 is a law authorizing land sale lotteries. We thus conclude that the Borough's land sale lottery does not violate Alaska's statute prohibiting unlawful gambling.