BET and GAMBLING. — A bet is an aleatory bilateral contract by which two persons, disagreeing about the truth or outcome of something, promise each other a prize (sum, stake) in favor of the one for whom the truth or event is established.
It is morally licit and produces an obligation in conscience when certain conditions are fulfilled. The first is bilaterality: that is, it must bind both parties; if it burdens only one, it is rather a conventional penalty. The second condition is aleatoriness (both parties expose themselves to equal danger, being unaware of the truth of the matter or of the event). If one party knows it, equality ceases; in the case of a game, however, a proportion of equality or near equality in skill between the contenders is required. Nevertheless, if one party, with perfect knowledge of the matter, equally accepts the game or its continuation to his own detriment, it is not unlikely that the obligation persists, since there is nothing contrary to reason in consenting to the other’s victory out of pure liberality (e.g., parents may do this with their children). The following is also required: the moral liceity of the matter bet upon. If the object is illicit (theft, homicide), the bet has neither moral nor juridical validity; nevertheless, the winner may ask for (not demand), accept, and retain the prize; the loser, for his part, has no duty to pay it; having paid it, strictly speaking according to the Italian Civil Code (arts. 1418, 1343–46), he could seek its recovery judicially if the contract is civilly illicit. Liceity also concerns the prize, which must be at the person’s disposal and of an amount morally possible for that person, the purpose must be honest (the pursuit of profit may also be an honest purpose), and fraud and violence must be excluded.
The Italian Civil Code (arts. 1933–35) grants no judicial action to demand payment of a bet, even if
licit; if the loser nevertheless voluntarily pays the prize, provided that fraud and illicitness are absent, he cannot recover the prize paid through legal proceedings, unless the person is incapable (because of age or mental condition), in which case such action is granted. Exceptions to this rule (since Roman law) are bets made on the occasion of races of every kind, sporting games, or games that train one in the handling of weapons (target shooting). Here too, however, the law allows the loser to ask the judge to reject or reduce the winner’s claim if the stake was excessive.
A special form is taken by the bet connected with the outcome of a game. In this regard, a distinction is made between the strictly recreational game, in which the body is given moderate relief and made more suitable for the resumption of subsequent duties; the addition of a small prize does not alter its recreational nature, as occurs in family circles (for possible excesses V. RISCHIO). Often, however, profit becomes the sole or principal aim of a game with high stakes; the game is then called juridical. In it, the outcome depends either principally on the player’s skill and attention (skill-based game, such as football, bowls, chess), entirely or almost entirely on chance (aleatory, such as dice, roulette halls, etc.), or partly on skill and partly on chance (mixed). Gambling games are precisely those in which the purpose of profit is present and the gain or loss is entirely or almost entirely aleatory.
In moral terms, juridical games are in themselves licit under the proper conditions (v. above). According to a classical expression, play should be added to life as salt is added to food; and just as everyone may spend part of his possessions on honest recreation, so he may spend it on games, provided that discernment measures the circumstances (v. DIVERTIMENTI). Unfortunately, abuses that render it illicit are easy: through excessive time, to the detriment of one’s duties; through excessive stakes, with harm to justice and charity; through excessive passion, which causes sins (blasphemy, hatred, loss of love for the family and work); through excessive greed, which leads to fraud, deception of the inexperienced, etc. Whoever uses fraud or stakes things that are not his own (the property of minors or incapable persons, or a husband who stakes his wife’s property), and probably also whoever stakes excessive sums, thereby rendering the game illicit, does not enter into a valid contract; consequently, the loser is not obliged to make any payment, nor may the winner in conscience retain the prize. Excessiveness in the stake is relative, that is, when the person places himself in danger of harming his family and social duties. Any fault derives its specific character from the virtue offended (charity, justice, temperance, etc.).
Civil law, in order to prevent serious social harm, imposes strict prohibitions with severe penalties; and, according to the more probable opinion, even when no other duties are violated, it binds in conscience. Gambling games are prohibited, including those disguised as something else, of every kind, whether in a public place, a place open to the public, or a private place. The penalties are imprisonment for three months to one year and a fine, doubled for anyone who maintains premises for games, for anyone who gambles in a public establishment, or stakes a substantial amount, or when a minor under eighteen participates.
Public establishments authorized to maintain gaming or billiard rooms are licensed for specified games, to the exclusion of others. The proprietor who tolerates prohibited games there is punished by a fine and may lose his license. Sums of money and implements found by the police are confiscated (Italian Penal Code, arts. 719–23; Public Security Law, art. 110).