## Facts

- Joseph Creash and codefendants operated a hall where bingo games were regularly conducted on a repeating schedule with announced prize amounts (e.g., $5, $10, and $15 games).
- Patrons paid a 10-cent entrance or participation fee to play.
- Prizes were awarded as orders or certificates for merchandise at local retailers rather than cash.
- Prize amounts were fixed in advance and did not vary based on the number of players or total fees collected.
- The operators maintained funds sufficient to cover prizes and used a bank account for operating expenses and overhead, indicating an ongoing commercial operation.
- Defendants were convicted of keeping and operating a gambling house and each was fined $50 plus costs, with a jail alternative for nonpayment.
- Defendants sought review, arguing the bingo operation did not constitute gambling or a gambling house under Florida law.

## Issues

1. Whether a regularly operated bingo establishment funded by entrance fees and awarding fixed-value merchandise orders constitutes a “gambling house” under Florida gambling statutes.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Florida affirmed the convictions.
- The court held the bingo hall was a gambling house within the meaning of Florida law.
- The court rejected arguments that fixed prize amounts, non-cash prizes, or the operator’s pre-funding of prizes removed the operation from the gambling statutes.

## Legal Principles

- A “gambling house” includes a place kept or maintained for the habitual conduct of games of chance in which patrons give consideration for the opportunity to win a prize or thing of value.
- Bingo is treated as a game of chance for purposes of gambling prohibitions.
- Consideration may be satisfied by an entrance or participation fee paid to play.
- A prize need not be cash; merchandise orders or certificates can qualify as a thing of value.
- Fixed prizes and an operator’s business structure (including guaranteed prize coverage) do not negate the gambling character of a fee-based game of chance conducted as a regular enterprise.

## Conclusion

Because the defendants maintained a commercial premises where patrons paid to play bingo for the chance to win valuable merchandise awards, the establishment met Florida’s definition of a gambling house, and the convictions were properly affirmed.


Creash v. State, 179 So. 149 (Fla. 1938)