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Legislature Passes Reducing Offense to Infraction for Office Sports Betting Pools

By Walin & Klarich

You no longer can be thrown in jail for taking part in that office betting pool when March Madness or Super Bowl comes around. In early August Governor Schwarzenegger signed a law that changes the penalty for participation in a non-commerical or an office ?sports betting pool? from a misdemeanor, punishable by fines up to $1,000, to an infraction, punishable by a fine not to exceed $250. This change in the law came three years after a 76-year old grandmother and bartender at the Elks Lodge in Riverside County was convicted and fined for a organizing a betting pool. The woman organized a betting pool on football in which 10 people put in $5 each. She was fined $130, had her fingerprints and mug shot taken and was cited for running a betting pool...continue to full post

Full post as published by Southern California Criminal Defense Blog on September 15, 2009 (boomark / email).