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Who Can Be Charged Under Texas's Gambling Device Possession Law?

By GamesOfSkillMag Editorial9 min read
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An unbranded graphite arcade-style cabinet with a blank screen stands in a bare room. A separate control-board housing with a small lime indicator light sits on the floor in front of it, with a slack moving strap and a power cord nearby.

Texas Penal Code Section 47.06 does not name operators, vendors or location owners. It applies to "a person," and the Texas possession of gambling device penalty is a Class A misdemeanor. Whether someone can be charged turns on the verbs (owns, manufactures, transfers, possesses), the item and the required mental states. This statute-only explainer uses sources checked November 2, 2026. It does not survey case law and is not legal advice.

What does Texas Penal Code 47.06 cover?

Section 47.06 covers three categories of items, each requiring action "with the intent to further gambling":

  • Gambling devices and essential parts, subsection (a). A person commits an offense if, with that intent, the person "knowingly owns, manufactures, transfers, or possesses any gambling device that he knows is designed for gambling purposes" or equipment known to be a subassembly or essential part of one (Sec. 47.06, FindLaw text).

  • Altered gambling equipment, subsection (b). Examples in Section 47.01(5) include shaved dice, loaded dice and marked cards.

  • Gambling paraphernalia, subsection (c). Section 47.01(6) covers items such as apparatus used to record bets, plus tickets, slips and tokens used for lotteries or similar games.

Under Section 47.01(4), a gambling device is, in paraphrase, a contrivance that for consideration gives a player a chance to win a thing of value determined wholly or partly by chance, even if some skill is involved. "Thing of value" means "any benefit," apart from an unrecorded and immediate right of replay not exchangeable for value. Section 47.01(4)(B) excludes contrivances made solely for bona fide amusement that reward players exclusively with noncash merchandise, toys or novelties, with wholesale value from a single play capped at 10 times the play price or $5, whichever is less.

Who counts as an owner?

Chapter 47 does not define "owns." The Penal Code's general definitions address the related noun: under Section 1.07(35), an owner has title to the property, possession of it (lawful or not), or a greater right to possession than the actor, or is a holder in due course of a negotiable instrument. Section 47.06 does not separately address leases or revenue-share arrangements.

Can a vendor or distributor be charged for transferring a machine?

Subsection (a) says "transfers" with no qualifier. Subsections (b) and (c) say "transfers commercially." Chapter 47 defines neither term. For sellers, distributors and resellers, the same intent and knowledge elements apply to the transfer.

Can a location owner or route operator be charged with possession?

Possession means "actual care, custody, control, or management" under Section 1.07(39). Under Section 6.01(b), possession is a voluntary act if the possessor knowingly obtains or receives the item, or is aware of controlling it long enough to end that control. On the text, then, the question is control. This article reaches no conclusion on any particular arrangement.

Can a company or employee be charged?

"Person" under Section 1.07(38) means an individual or a corporation, association, limited liability company, or other entity or organization governed by the Business Organizations Code. Section 7.22(a) makes a business entity criminally responsible for an agent's conduct on its behalf, within the scope of office or employment, for offenses to which entities are made subject. Section 7.21 defines agents to include directors, officers and employees.

Section 7.23(a) makes an individual responsible for conduct performed for an entity "to the same extent as if the conduct were performed in the individual's own name or behalf." Under Section 7.02(a)(2), a person is also responsible if, intending to promote or assist the offense, "he solicits, encourages, directs, aids, or attempts to aid the other person to commit the offense."

What does "intent to further gambling" mean?

Chapter 47 does not define that phrase, and it does not define "gambling" standing alone. The text stacks three layers: intent to further gambling, knowing conduct and, in subsections (a) and (b), knowledge of the item's design. Subsection (c) has no separate design-knowledge clause.

Section 6.03 says a person acts intentionally "when it is his conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct or cause the result," and acts knowingly about conduct or circumstances "when he is aware of the nature of his conduct or that the circumstances exist."

What is the penalty for possession of a gambling device in Texas?

Section 47.06(e) reads: "An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor." The Legislature's text still read that way on November 2, 2026. For individuals, Section 12.21 sets "a fine not to exceed $4,000," "confinement in jail for a term not to exceed one year," or both. For business entities, Section 12.51(b)(2) sets a $10,000 fine cap for a Class A misdemeanor, within subsection (b)'s scope of offenses that provide for imprisonment or no specific penalty.

The felony bill was not enacted. SB 517 would have changed the section to read "An offense under this section is a felony of the third degree" (engrossed text). It passed the Senate on May 8, 2025, and was received by the House the same day, with no House committee referral shown (bill history). The regular session adjourned June 2, 2025. Companion HB 487 was last referred to House Licensing & Administrative Procedures on February 28, 2025.

What defenses does the statute list?

  • Private place, 47.06(d). For subsections (a) and (c), all three conditions must be met: the gambling is to occur entirely in a private place, no one involved receives any economic benefit other than personal winnings, and, except for the advantage of skill or luck, the chance of winning is the same for all participants. A private place excludes "streets, highways, restaurants, taverns, nightclubs, schools, hospitals, and the common areas of apartment houses, hotels, motels, office buildings, transportation facilities, and shops," among other places.

  • Shipping, 47.06(f). For subsections (a) and (c), this applies where the item was held or moved "for the sole purpose of shipping it to another jurisdiction where the possession or use" of it was legal.

  • Authorized conduct, 47.09(a). This chapter-wide defense lists conduct authorized under Occupations Code Chapters 2001, 2002 and 2004, the Texas Racing Act and Finance Code Chapter 280, plus state lottery conduct as authorized.

  • Vessels, 47.09(b). This affirmative defense covers items aboard ocean-going vessels passing through Texas waters to reach a Texas port, on conditions that include advance notice and disabling devices.

Subsections (d) and (f) and Section 47.09(b) do not list 47.06(b). The reasonable-belief defense in Section 47.02(c) and the defense in 47.02(e) are written for prosecutions under 47.02, not 47.06, whose text has no reasonable-belief defense.

Does a Comptroller license or occupation tax permit protect you?

No listed defense says so. Occupations Code Chapter 2153 is absent from Section 47.09(a). Section 2153.003 says the chapter "does not authorize or permit the keeping, exhibition, operation, display, or maintenance" of a prohibited machine, and Section 2153.155(2) says a license grants no property or right beyond conducting the licensed business. The Comptroller's coin-op page describes licensing or registration and a $60.00 annual occupation tax permit per machine. It does not mention gambling and does not say a license legalizes any use.

What other Texas provisions sit next to 47.06?

Section 47.04(a) speaks directly to property. It applies to a person who "knowingly uses or permits another to use as a gambling place" property owned by that person or under their control, or who rents it "with a view or expectation that it be so used." Section 47.03, gambling promotion, includes operating or sharing in the earnings of a gambling place. Both are Class A misdemeanors.

Seized items face a separate track. Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 18.18 directs destruction or forfeiture after a final conviction for possession. Where there is no prosecution or conviction, it uses a show-cause notice to the person found in possession, who must prove by a preponderance that the item falls outside the listed categories and that they are entitled to possession.

What has the Texas attorney general said?

Attorney General Opinion KP-0520, issued June 10, 2026, concluded that a machine with chance and skill modes is a gambling device under Chapter 47 "so long as chance plays any role in determining whether the player receives something of value," Legal Newsline reported. Public Gaming Research Institute reported that AG opinions are advisory, do not bind Texas courts and do not change the law. Neither report mentions Section 47.06 or possession.

What the text settles, and what it leaves open

The statute sets elements and listed defenses. Applying them to a given machine or contract depends on facts outside the text. As an editorial recommendation, not a legal requirement, take the actual agreement and machine facts to qualified Texas counsel. For supplier diligence, our vendor comparison checklist is a worksheet for recording questions and evidence. It is not legal approval, vendor verification or a measure of machine profitability.

Sources

Reporting is for information, not legal advice. A vendor listing or the term skill game does not establish a machine's legality in any jurisdiction.

AI assistance is disclosed where used. Consult primary sources and qualified counsel for legal decisions.

Frequently asked questions

What is the penalty for possession of a gambling device in Texas?

It is a Class A misdemeanor under Penal Code Section 47.06(e). Individuals face a fine of up to $4,000, up to one year in jail, or both, and Section 12.51(b)(2) sets a $10,000 fine cap for business entities.

Can a location owner be charged under Texas Penal Code 47.06?

Section 47.06 does not name location owners; it applies to any person who knowingly owns, manufactures, transfers or possesses a covered item with the intent to further gambling. Possession means actual care, custody, control or management, and Section 47.04 separately addresses property used as a gambling place.

Does a Texas Comptroller coin-op license protect against a 47.06 charge?

No listed defense says so. Occupations Code Chapter 2153 is absent from Section 47.09(a), and Section 2153.003 says the chapter does not authorize a prohibited machine.

Is possession of a gambling device a felony in Texas?

No. SB 517 would have made it a third-degree felony and passed the Senate on May 8, 2025, but it was not enacted, and the Legislature's text still showed a Class A misdemeanor on November 2, 2026.

Does the private place defense cover a store or restaurant?

Section 47.01(8) defines a private place as one to which the public does not have access and expressly excludes restaurants, taverns and nightclubs, among other places. The defense in Section 47.06(d) also requires that no one receive an economic benefit beyond personal winnings and that the chance of winning be the same for all participants, apart from skill or luck.

Texas Possession of Gambling Device Penalty: Who's Covered | GamesOfSkillMag