Definition
To gamble is to play a game of chance or skill for money or other stakes, or to bet on the result of such a game, with the expectation of winning money or property through uncertain means. In legal usage, the term carries a strong connotation of unlawfulness — historically used to describe conduct that was either criminal in itself or the basis for regulatory or civil consequences.
A gambler is one who follows or practices games of chance or skill with the expectation and purpose of thereby winning money or other property. A common gambler is a person who furnishes facilities for gambling — one who, for gambling purposes, keeps or exhibits a gambling table or establishment — and is therefore treated more severely by law than an ordinary participant.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A bet or wager; a significant risk undertaken with a potential gain; a risky venture.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To play or game for money or other stake.
The gap between common and legal usage is directionally meaningful: modern ordinary English has broadened "gamble" to encompass any risky undertaking, metaphorical or literal ("it was a gamble to expand the business"). Legal usage is narrower and historically tied to unlawfulness — the historical dictionaries emphasize that the word is most apt precisely because it captures the idea of unlawful play, not merely uncertain risk. A researcher using "gamble" in historical legal sources should not read it in the modern colloquial sense of general risk-taking.
Common Confusion
Gamble, game, bet, wager, and hazard overlap substantially in historical legal usage and are often used interchangeably in older authorities. "Gamble" was treated by courts and lexicographers as the most comprehensive of these terms — inclusive of hazarding, betting, and playing — which is why statutes and judicial opinions sometimes preferred it over narrower synonyms. Researchers should not assume that a source using "game" or "wager" instead of "gamble" is describing a legally distinct act; the operative distinction is usually between lawful and unlawful play, not which synonym the drafter chose. In modern tax law, "gambling" and "wagering" are used interchangeably in the Internal Revenue Code context, though different statutory provisions may govern.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
Gambler (ordinary): A person who participates in games of chance or skill for money or property as a player.
Common gambler: A legally distinct and more culpable category — a person who furnishes facilities for others to gamble, keeps a gambling establishment, or exhibits a gambling table. The common gambler designation triggers heightened criminal exposure and was the basis for specific statutory offenses in many jurisdictions. The distinction between participant and operator is foundational to how gambling law was historically structured and remains relevant in modern licensing and criminal frameworks.
Why It Matters in Research
Unlawfulness is baked into the historical definition. When historical sources define "gamble" as "unlawful play," they are not merely describing the social context — they are treating illegality as an element of the meaning itself. Researchers reading older statutes, indictments, or judicial opinions that use the word "gamble" should recognize that the term was doing legal work: it implied the conduct was criminal or void, not merely that money was at stake. This creates a trap when reading modern gambling law, where the same word describes conduct that may be entirely lawful under a license or regulatory scheme.
The common gambler / ordinary gambler distinction matters for historical criminal research. Early American statutes often created separate offenses for operators and participants, and the dichotomy in the historical dictionaries — ordinary gambler versus common gambler — maps onto that legislative structure. Anderson's definition is particularly useful here because it spells out the operator-focused meaning of "common gambler" most explicitly.
Tax treatment is a distinct and practically important modern application. The Internal Revenue Code treats gambling income as gross income and allows gambling losses as an itemized deduction (subject to limits). This is a modern layer with no analog in the historical dictionaries. Researchers working in tax contexts should consult the Tax Encyclopedia entries directly; the historical legal dictionary definitions of "gamble" provide essentially no guidance for tax research.
Jurisdictional variation in criminal law is substantial. What constitutes unlawful gambling, how operators are distinguished from participants, and what exemptions exist (charitable gaming, state lotteries, tribal gaming under IGRA) vary dramatically. Historical sources reflect a world in which gambling was broadly criminal; modern sources reflect a heavily regulated but often lawful industry.
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical sources agree on the core definition and, notably, agree on its scope. All four — Black's (both editions), Anderson's, and Bouvier's — converge on gambling as inclusive of hazarding, betting, and playing, and treat "gamble" as the most comprehensive and legally apt term in the language. The phrase "most apt and substantial to convey the idea of unlawful play" appears in both Black's editions and Bouvier's, apparently derived from a Tennessee authority (2 Yerg. 472/474), suggesting these dictionaries were drawing from the same judicial source rather than independently reaching the same conclusion. Researchers should note this shared lineage rather than treating the near-identical language as independent corroboration.
Anderson's is the most practically useful of the four for distinguishing the common gambler from the ordinary gambler, providing a cleaner functional definition of each. Bouvier's attribution to Justice Ames (113 Mass. 103) for the definition of "gambler" gives the entry slightly more jurisprudential grounding than the others.
What the historical dictionaries collectively miss: any treatment of lawful gambling, the regulatory dimension, or the tax consequences of gambling income and losses. Their world is one of prohibition, not licensing. A researcher who relies solely on these entries will have an accurate picture of gambling law as it was understood in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries but will be poorly equipped for modern research involving casino regulation, tribal gaming, or tax treatment of gambling proceeds.
Jurisdictional Note
Criminal gambling law is almost entirely state law, and what constitutes an offense — and for whom — varies significantly. Federal law enters primarily through the Wire Act, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, each of which uses its own definitional framework rather than the broad common-law conception captured in the historical dictionaries.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Gambling Offenses (The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia)
Gross Income — Gambling Income and Losses (The Law Mind Tax Encyclopedia)
Itemized Deductions — Gambling Losses (The Law Mind Tax Encyclopedia)