Court Opinion

ID: 9792403
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:28:58.22141+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:42.630091
License: Public Domain

RABINOWITZ, Justice,
dissenting in part.
I disagree with that portion of the court’s opinion which holds that the Kenai land lottery ordinance is not “unlawful gambling” in violation of AS 11.66.200.
First, I think it clear that the Kenai lottery falls within the definition of “gambling” supplied in AS 11.66.280(2).1 In State v. Pinball Machines, 404 P.2d 923, 925 (Alaska 1965), we held that “the essential elements of gambling are price, chance, and prize. Thus, one gambles when he pays a price for a chance to obtain a prize.” (Footnote omitted.) There is no requirement that the value placed at risk be refundable, as the majority suggests in footnote 1 of the opinion. The interpretation offered by the majority would allow any form of gambling where the initial stake is not returned to the winner.
Second, I construe AS 11.66.200 as precluding municipal governments from legalizing gambling within their jurisdictions. The court correctly notes that this statute does not reach forms of gambling “specifi*130cally authorized by law.” See AS 11.66.-280(11). The purpose of this exception was to avoid conflicts between the anti-gambling law and other state statutes authorizing certain games of chance which otherwise would fall within the gambling prohibition.2 See AS 05.15.100. There is simply no trace within the legislative history of an intent to delegate to municipalities the power to authorize gambling.

. AS 11.66.280(2) provides in part that
“gambling” 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 ....

. This view is supported by the legislatively adopted commentary to the criminal code:
The definition of “unlawful” [§ 11.66.-280(11)] provides that no gambling practice is lawful unless it is specifically authorized by statute. See generally, AS 05.15 (Bingo, Raffles and Ice Pools).
1978 Alaska Senate Journal Supp. No. 47 at 114 (June 12, 1978), reprinted in Alaska Criminal Code Manual 3-266 (1980).
In addition to other statutes, the “authorized by law” language seems directed toward the gambling statute itself. AS 11.66.200(b) exempts “social game[s],” defined in AS 11.66.-280(9), from prohibition. The official commentary notes that the exception for social games was one of the few significant reforms in gambling law made by the new code. 1978 Alaska Senate Journal Supp. No. 47 at 112, reprinted in Alaska Criminal Code Manual 3-265. Thus, even though the "friendly poker game” falls within the statutory definition of gambling, it is not “unlawful gambling” under 11.66.200(a), because it is authorized by law.