§ 4810 — Sales to certain persons prohibited; penalties

(a) (1) It is unlawful for an individual who is under 18 years old to purchase a lottery ticket or participate in an internet ticket game.

(2) It is unlawful for an individual who is under 21 years old to wager on the video lottery, sports lottery, table games, internet table games, or internet video lottery.

(3) A violation of paragraph (a)(1) or (a)(2) of this section is an unclassified misdemeanor.

(4) An individual convicted of, adjudicated delinquent of, or placed on probation before judgment under § 4218 of Title 11 for violating this subsection must complete 5 hours of counseling on problem gambling.

(5) The Justice of the Peace Court has original jurisdiction over a violation of this subsection by an individual who is 18 years of age or older. The Family Court has original jurisdiction over a violation of this subsection by an individual 17 years of age or younger.

(b) No ticket shall be sold to any person under the age of 18 years, but this shall not be deemed to prohibit the purchase of a ticket for the purpose of making a gift by a person 18 years of age or older to a person less than that age.

(c) No licensed video lottery agent, sports lottery agent, or employee of such agents shall allow a person under the age of 21 to wager on the video lottery, table games, sports lottery, internet table games, or internet video lottery.

(d) A violation of subsection (b) or (c) of this section shall be a misdemeanor, except that the establishment of the following facts shall constitute a defense to any prosecution therefor:

(1) That the underage person presented proof of age or photographic identification that would lead a reasonable person to believe that the underage person was over the minimum age required in this section.

(2) That the appearance of the underage person was such that an ordinary prudent person would believe that the person was over the minimum age required in this section.

(e) No Delaware lottery games, including ticket games, video lottery, sports lottery, internet lottery, internet ticket games, keno, and table games, may be played by and no prizes received by or awarded to any officers or employees of the State Lottery Office or any member of their immediate households. Any person convicted of violating this section shall forfeit any prize money so obtained and shall be sentenced to not less than 1 year in jail and pay a fine of no less than $5,000.

Legislative History

59 Del. Laws, c. 348, § 1 ; 60 Del. Laws, c. 539, § 4 ; 66 Del. Laws, c. 367, § 2 ; 69 Del. Laws, c. 446, § 15 ; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1 ; 77 Del. Laws, c. 221, § 10 ; 78 Del. Laws, c. 285, § 6 ; 81 Del. Laws, c. 250, § 1