“(a)It is unlawful for any owner or occupant of any house, outbuilding, or other building or any steamboat, or other vessel to knowingly permit or suffer any games, tables, or banks mentioned in ß 5-66-104 or permit or suffer any kind of gaming under any name, to be carried on or exhibited in his or her house, outbuilding, or other building, or on board of any steamboat, flatboat, keelboat, or other vessel on any of the waters within this state.
(b) Upon conviction, a person who violates this section is guilty of an unclassified misdemeanor and shall be fined in any sum not less than one hundred dollars ($100) and may be imprisoned any length of time not less than thirty (30) days nor more than one (1) year.”
The definition of gambling devices has more to do with punishments and the places where it’s illegal to gamble than the devices themselves. Readers can see how old certain parts of Arkansas’ gambling statutes are when they see the attention paid to “steamboat” gambling. In essence, the law outlaws gambling in one’s house, outhouse, or any kind of boat kept on a waterway.
Fines for convictions are open-ended, though archaic. The fine stipulated is $100, though it has no seeming upward limit. The same can be said for the jail time served, which has a minimum limit of 30 days but no maximum limit.
