LEGAL MATTERS: Is Your March Madness Office Pool Legal?

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

John T. Longo, GoLocalProv Legal Contributor

Everyone wants in on March Madness, but is that office pool you've got going legal? Read this before it's too late.

Twenty-one years ago, the Rhode Island State Police arrested two people at their jobs and charged them with running an illegal gambling operation: a $5 March Madness office pool. One beat the charges but the other ended up serving a year on probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor gambling offense. More recently, a group of employees at the Providence Veterans Hospital had to deal with similar charges.

Should you be worried? Maybe. Your best bet is to avoid office pools but, if you cannot avoid the temptation, here are some things to consider.

Don’t be the ringleader; especially if you have enemies at work.

Organizing office pools is illegal in Rhode Island and Massachusetts - even if you give all the money to the winners and even if you do not keep any of the money for yourself. But prosecuting small-stakes office pools does not seem to be a priority for the Rhode Island Attorney General or the Worcester District Attorney based on my conversations with their offices this week. Neither said they would never prosecute an office pool, both explained they have to make judgment calls about how to use their limited prosecutorial resources. That said, in the Rhode Island case the police were acting on an apparently anonymous complaint and you should not assume any police agency will ignore a complaint.

Don’t jeopardize your job.

The only local cases I could find involving employees being criminally prosecuted for running pools involved government employees. But it is very common for large private sector employers to prohibit all workplace gambling and they do not have to bother with any legalities if they catch you violating their policies; they can just show you the door.

Don’t jeopardize your liquor license.

If your ‘office’ is a bar, don’t get involved with any betting. For good reason, the police seem to make a distinction between pools among friends at work and pools organized by bartenders.

If you win, pay your taxes.

Gambling winnings count as income. So if you are lucky enough to win a pool, be sure to disclose it on your tax return. (It does seem ironic that the same government that says office pools are illegal then puts its hand out when you win, but that’s the law.)

If you get caught, clam up.

If you are unlucky enough to find yourself in a gambling investigation, your best bet is usually to say “I want a lawyer” and nothing else. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Really, nothing else at all. If the police have enough evidence, you will not be able to talk them out of arresting you. If they do not have enough evidence, they will probably tell you they want to talk to you to ‘straighten things out.’ But by talking you will probably just give them the evidence they need to arrest you.

If you do not believe me, ask Congressman David Cicilline; as an attorney in private practice years ago he represented one of the Rhode Island workers I mentioned at the start of this column.

John Longo is a consumer rights attorney practicing law in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. He represents consumers who have disputes with businesses, employees cheated out of their wages or overtime, car buyers stuck with Lemons, and people in need of bankruptcy protection. He is a member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, and the Rhode Island Association for Justice.

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