§2E3.1 Gambling Offenses: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024
In fiscal year 2024, 41 people were sentenced under §2E3.1, and 56% were within the guideline range, higher than the 38% for all years. The median prison term was 18 months, and 22 people (54%) were sent to prison.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2024, 41 people were sentenced under §2E3.1, and 56% were within the guideline range, higher than the 38% for all years. The median prison term was 18 months, and 22 people (54%) were sent to prison.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 41 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024. 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.
More Sentences Within the Guideline Range
Within the range were 56% (23) of the 41 people. Below the range at the government's request were 32% (13), and below it without a government request were 10% (4). Above the range was 2% (1).
The within-range share was 27% in fiscal year 2023 and 59% in fiscal year 2025. For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline it was 38%, and for everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024 it was 46%.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 41 people with that information recorded.
Prison and Probation
The Guidelines Manual titles §2E3.1 "Gambling Offenses; Animal Fighting Offenses." The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 41 people with that primary guideline in fiscal year 2024, all in the Commercialized Vice offense type.
A prison term went to 22 people (54%), and probation only went to 14 (34%). The median prison term was 18 months. A quarter received 23.8 months or more, and a quarter received 1.2 months or less.
The median was 12 months in fiscal year 2023 and 9 months in fiscal year 2025. Supervised release was ordered for 20 people (49%), with a median term of 36 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% |
Pleas and One Trial Case
A total of 39 of the 41 people (95%) pleaded guilty, and 2 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 18 months.
The trial median was 0.5 months, based on 1 person who was convicted at trial and sent to prison. A single case cannot describe trial sentences in general.
Among guilty pleas, 92% had a written plea agreement and 8% were straight pleas.
Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History
A fine was ordered for 15 people (37%), and restitution for 2 (5%).
In criminal history, 51% were in the lowest category (Category I) and 0% in the highest (Category VI). Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Federal Totals for Context
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024 totaled 61,678 people, with a median prison term of 30 months and 97% guilty pleas. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024.
Across all years, 544 people were sentenced under §2E3.1, with 57% sent to prison and a median prison term of 12 months. The 2024 median was higher than that.
What the Records Cannot Show
The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, so acquittals and dismissals are missing. A group of 41 is small, and one year is not a trend.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, and this post reports federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2E3.1 (41), 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 2023 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2E3.1 Gambling Offenses: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025 (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.