§2E3.1 Gambling Offenses: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025
Federal courts sentenced 544 people under guideline §2E3.1, Gambling Offenses; Animal Fighting Offenses, in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Prison was ordered for 311 (57%), with a median term of 12 months, and 175 people (32%) received probation only.
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In brief: Federal courts sentenced 544 people under guideline §2E3.1, Gambling Offenses; Animal Fighting Offenses, in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Prison was ordered for 311 (57%), with a median term of 12 months, and 175 people (32%) received probation only.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 544 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 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.
What the Guideline Title Covers
The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2E3.1 "Gambling Offenses; Animal Fighting Offenses." The title joins gambling offenses and animal fighting offenses in one section.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission classifies all 544 people in this group as Commercialized Vice cases. The records here do not separate gambling cases from animal fighting cases, so none of the figures below can be assigned to one type or the other.
Prison and Probation
A prison term went to 311 people (57%). Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, went to 175 (32%).
Among those sent to prison, the median term was 12 months. A quarter received 21 months or more, and a quarter received 2 months or less.
Guilty Pleas and Trials
Guilty pleas were entered by 526 of 544 people (97%). Only 18 were convicted after a trial. Among guilty pleas, 95% had a written plea agreement and 5% were straight pleas.
The median prison term was 12 months after a guilty plea and 24 months after a trial. The trial median is based on 14 people, a small group, so it is less steady than the plea median. The share who pleaded guilty was 93% or higher in every year except 2019, when it was 76%.
Fines, Supervised Release, and Mandatory Minimums
Fines were more common here than restitution. A fine was ordered for 193 people (35%), while restitution was ordered for 23 (4%).
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 287 (53%), with a median term of 36 months. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 person.
In criminal history, 72% were in the lowest category and 2% in the highest.
The Guideline Range
A sentence within the range went to 208 people (38%). Below the range at the government's request: 159 (29%). Below the range without that request: 136 (25%). Above the range: 41 (8%). The records show which side of the range each sentence fell on, not how far from it.
Changes Over the Years
In fiscal years 2016 to 2019, 253 people were sentenced and the median prison term was 8 months. In fiscal years 2020 to 2025, 291 people were sentenced and the median was 12.3 months.
The yearly table is uneven. In 2019, only 29 people were sentenced, the median was 24 months, and 76% pleaded guilty. In 2017 and 2018, the groups were larger, with 65 and 79 people, and the medians were 5.5 months and 7 months. Because some years have few people, a few cases can move a yearly median, and the records do not show why.
| 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% |
What the Records Cannot Show
Acquittals and dismissals are not in this data. Prison terms are those imposed, not time served.
The crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports federal numbers alone.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2E3.1 (544), from the U.S. Sentencing Commission's 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)
- §2E1.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2E4.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2E2.1 Making or Financing an Extortionate Extension of Credit: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2E1.4 Use of Interstate Commerce Facilities in the Commission of Murder-For-Hire: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- 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.