§2E3.1 Gambling Offenses: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018
In fiscal year 2018, 79 people were sentenced under §2E3.1, and 40 (51%) received a prison term. The median prison term was 7 months. A sentence below the guideline range at the government's request was the most common placement, at 42% (33 people).
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In brief: In fiscal year 2018, 79 people were sentenced under §2E3.1, and 40 (51%) received a prison term. The median prison term was 7 months. A sentence below the guideline range at the government's request was the most common placement, at 42% (33 people).
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 79 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
Government-Requested Reductions Were the Largest Group
Of the 79 people sentenced under §2E3.1 in fiscal year 2018, 42% (33) received a sentence below the guideline range at the government's request. Within the range were 28% (22). Below the range without a government request were 18% (14), and above the range were 13% (10).
The within-range share was 37% in fiscal year 2017 and 34% in fiscal year 2019. For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline it was 38%.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 79 people with that information recorded (1%).
Prison and Probation
The guideline is titled "Gambling Offenses; Animal Fighting Offenses" in the Guidelines Manual. The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 79 people in this fiscal year, which ran from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018.
A prison term went to 40 people (51%), and probation only, with no prison or other confinement, went to 29 (37%).
The median prison term was 7 months. A quarter received 13.3 months or more, and a quarter received 0 months or less. Fiscal year 2017 had a median of 5.5 months, and fiscal year 2019 had 24 months.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 80 | 5.1 months | 93% |
| 2017 | 65 | 5.5 months | 100% |
| 2018 | 79 | 7 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 29 | 24 months | 76% |
| 2020 | 22 | 10 months | 95% |
| 2021 | 59 | 12 months | 98% |
| 2022 | 39 | 18 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 64 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 41 | 18 months | 95% |
| 2025 | 66 | 9 months | 98% |
A Group With No Trials
All 79 people (100%) pleaded guilty. No one was convicted after a trial, so the records have no trial figures for the year.
Among guilty pleas, 96% had a written plea agreement and 4% were straight pleas.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
After prison, 38 people (48%) were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 36 months.
A fine was ordered for 27 people (34%), and restitution for 1 (1%).
In criminal history, 77% were in the lowest category (Category I) and 1% in the highest (Category VI). Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Comparisons With All Years and All Cases
For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 544 people were sentenced under this guideline. Of those, 57% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 12 months, and 97% pleaded guilty. The 2018 median was lower than the median for all years.
The Commission placed all 79 cases in the Commercialized Vice offense type. Across every guideline in fiscal year 2018, 69,425 people were sentenced, with a median prison term of 24 months, 97% guilty pleas, and 51% within the range.
Limits
Only people who were convicted and sentenced are counted. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data, and prison terms are those imposed rather than time served.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2E3.1 (79), U.S. Sentencing Commission individual data files. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Mandatory minimum sentences. Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- §2E3.1 Gambling Offenses: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2E3.1 Gambling Offenses: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2E3.1 Gambling Offenses: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.