§ 39 — Cheating and swindling; penalty

Section 39. (a) Whoever, during a game in a gaming establishment, knowingly and by any trick or sleight of hand performance or by a fraud or fraudulent scheme, cards, dice or other gaming device, for himself, for another or for a representative of either: (i) wins, or attempts to win, money or property; or (ii) reduces, or attempts to reduce, a losing wager in a gaming establishment shall be guilty of cheating and swindling.(b) Whoever knowingly uses a cheating and swindling device or game in a gaming establishment shall be guilty of cheating and swindling.(c) Whoever commits the offense of cheating and swindling shall be punished as follows:(i) if the value of the money, property or wager cheated and swindled is $75,000 or more, by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 10 years or in the house of correction for not more than 21/2 years or by a fine not to exceed $1,000,000, or both, and in the case of a person other than a natural person, by a fine not to exceed $10,000,000;(ii) if the value of the money, property or wager cheated and swindled is $10,000 or more but less than $75,000, by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 5 years or in the house of correction for not more than 21/2 years or by a fine not to exceed $500,000, or both, and in the case of a person other than a natural person, by a fine not to exceed $5,000,000;(iii) if the value of the money, property or wager cheated and swindled is $1,000 or more but less than $10,000, by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 3 years or in the house of correction for not more than 21/2 years or by a fine not to exceed $100,000, or both, and in the case of a person other than a natural person, by a fine not to exceed $1,000,000;(iv) if nothing of value was obtained in violation of this subsection or if the value of the money, property or wager cheated and swindled is less than $1,000, by imprisonment in the house of correction for not more than 21/2 years or by a fine not to exceed $10,000, or both, and in the case of a person other than a natural person, by a fine not to exceed $100,000.(d) Each episode or transaction of swindling and cheating may be the subject of a separate prosecution and conviction. In the discretion of the commonwealth, multiple episodes or transactions of swindling and cheating committed as part of a single scheme or course of conduct may be treated as a single offense and the amounts involved in acts of swindling and cheating committed according to a scheme or course of conduct, whether by the same person or several persons, may be aggregated in determining the value of money, property or wager involved in the offense.(e) A gaming licensee, or an employee of a gaming licensee, who, in a gaming establishment, knowingly: (i) conducts or operates any game using a cheating and swindling device or game; (ii) displays for play a cheating and swindling game; or (iii) permits to be conducted, operated or displayed, any cheating and swindling device or game shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 5 years or imprisonment in the house of correction for not more than 21/2 years, or by a fine not to exceed $25,000, or both, and in the case of a person other than a natural person, by a fine not to exceed $100,000.