what's legal and what's not?
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WJAC) —
Two Cambria County women are facing charges for creating a Facebook gambling group.
This has caused concern for some people who believe they may be taking part in similar groups.
The investigation began with a tip to State Police that there were some gambling operations occurring via Facebook,” Cambria County District Attorney Gregory Neugebauer said.
Brittany Winings of Northern Cambria and Tiffany Dupas of Hastings are facing several misdemeanor charges related to gambling devices, allowing gambling and inviting someone to gamble.
“The investigation took several weeks,” Neugebauer said. “There were multiple search warrants including bank records, PayPal records and those types of things and that ultimately resulted in some charges”
Authorities say the two women ran a Facebook group called "Bid Win Save" which was bidding off prizes to those who paid for bidding spots.
“In order to operate a raffle, or a 50-50, or any type of activity like that you need to have a Small Games of Chance License,” Neugebauer said.
Neugebauer goes on to say in Pennsylvania, these types of "gambling" activities are reserved for charities, veterans, or service organizations.
“Really that is to protect the public from unscrupulous people that may be operating those types of things,” Neugebauer said. “But, it's also to preserve fundraising capabilities for non-profits and for service organizations.”
In this case, the prizes ranged from cash, lottery tickets, electronics, even furniture.
State Police say small games of chance are illegal unless conducted by a non-profit organization. So, we asked Neugebauer how people can tell if they're in a legitimate legal group.
“One thing you can always do is ask the organization that's running it if they have a Small Games of Chance License and what their license number is and then you can always check with the County's Treasurer's Offices to determine if those are still active.”
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