The United States of America is a country that prides itself on its pursuit of dignity and freedom for all. These strange gambling laws tell a different story when it comes to liberty, however!
A Dress Code for the Ladies of Oklahoma
In Schulter, Oklahoma, women may not gamble while wearing lingerie, being wrapped in a towel, or if they’re nude. Strip Poker is obviously not an option here.
This law brings up many questions it’s impossible to answer. For one, how did lingerie, or nude, gambling become big enough of an issue to warrant legislature forbidding it? And can women enjoy games of chance in their pyjamas? Are yoga pants deemed too sexy?
And what do men have to wear?
Gambling Venues in West Virginia
The scenic Mountain State has dedicated an entire section of their gambling statutes to where gambling is legally allowed to happen. It’s not technically lawful in hotels or taverns, for example, but it gets a lot more specific.
If the owner of one of these venues knowingly allows people to gamble inside their outhouses, they will be guilty of a misdemeanour. They could face as much as four months in jail, a US$100 fine, and may even lose their business license.
While it’s easy enough to imagine that sometimes enjoying the best slots to play on your phone is sometimes done while answering nature’s call these days, it’s more difficult to visualise why on earth there were once enough people betting in bathrooms to warrant a law governing this behaviour.
Thanks to modern plumbing this is far less of an issue these days, but hotel owners may still want to ensure their guests know that they’re not allowed to bet in the bathroom.
Get Your Money Back in Kentucky
Kentucky gives you the chance to get your money back if you lose any of it in a game of chance. The Loss Recovery Act is a statute that lets bettors who’ve lost more than US$5 sue the winner for as much as three times what they lost in the first place! And if the loser doesn’t sue inside of six months, anyone can do so on their behalf, as long as it’s within five years.
North Carolina’s Bingo Time Limits
While North Carolina allows charities to host Bingo games as fundraisers, these organisations have to follow many regulations to stay within the bounds of the law. One of the most outlandish of these is that a single session has to be less than five hours long.
A Strict Structure for Sundays in Alabama
It’s illegal to play dominoes on a Sunday in the state of Alabama. The statute says that you may not engage in card-playing, gaming, hunting, racing, or shooting on Sundays, and while the law against playing dominoes is not mentioned in it, it does appear as part of an ordinance dedicated to things you cannot do on what was once revered as a holy day. Poker’s covered too, as is Blackjack or any other card game, obviously as part of the old-fashioned idea of not working on Sundays.