§2E3.1 Gambling Offenses: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021
In fiscal year 2021, 59 people were sentenced under §2E3.1. A prison term went to 29 (49%), and the median prison term was 12 months, the same as the median for all years. All but 1 person pleaded guilty, and 42% were sentenced within the guideline range.
· Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2E3.1 Gambling Offenses › §2E3.1: FY2021
In brief: In fiscal year 2021, 59 people were sentenced under §2E3.1. A prison term went to 29 (49%), and the median prison term was 12 months, the same as the median for all years. All but 1 person pleaded guilty, and 42% were sentenced within the guideline range.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 59 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021. 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.
A Median Equal to the All-Years Median
The median prison term in fiscal year 2021 was 12 months. That is the same as the median for all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline. The previous year had a median of 10 months, and the next year, fiscal year 2022, had 18 months.
A quarter of those sent to prison received 18 months or more, and a quarter received 11 months or less.
The count itself was larger than in the years just before it. Fiscal year 2020 had 22 people and fiscal year 2019 had 29. Fiscal year 2022 had 39 people. The yearly table lists every year of counts, medians, and guilty plea shares for this guideline.
| 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% |
The People Counted
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 59 people whose primary guideline was §2E3.1, titled "Gambling Offenses; Animal Fighting Offenses" in the Guidelines Manual. All 59 cases were in the Commercialized Vice offense type.
A prison term went to 29 people (49%), and probation only went to 17 (29%). Supervised release followed prison for 28 people (47%), with a median term of 24 months. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021.
Pleas and the Single Trial
A total of 58 of the 59 people (98%) pleaded guilty. 1 person was convicted after a trial.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 12 months. The one trial case had a prison term of 30 months. A single case does not show what trials usually bring.
Among those who pleaded guilty, 95% had a written plea agreement, and 5% entered straight pleas.
Guideline Range and Mandatory Minimums
Within the range were 42% (25) of the 59 people. Below the range at the government's request were 34% (20), and below it without a government request were 24% (14). No one was above the range.
The within-range share was 27% in fiscal year 2020 and 38% in fiscal year 2022. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 59 people with that information recorded.
Fines, Restitution, and Prior Record
A fine was ordered for 18 people (31%), and restitution for 1 (2%).
In criminal history, 80% were in the lowest category (Category I) and 0% in the highest (Category VI). Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Federal Totals and Limits
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 totaled 57,287 people. Their median prison term was 29 months, 98% pleaded guilty, and 43% were within the range.
Under §2E3.1 across all years, 544 people were sentenced, 57% went to prison, and 97% pleaded guilty. The data counts only people convicted and sentenced. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so this post reports federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2E3.1 (59), 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.
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 2020 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2E3.1 Gambling Offenses: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022 (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.