Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion: KP-0520

June 10, 2026

The Honorable Bob Hall
Chair, Senate Committee on Administration
Texas State Senate
Post Office Box 12068
Austin, Texas 78711-2068

Opinion No. KP-0520

Re: Whether an amusement machine is considered a gambling device under the Texas
Penal Code when the machine offers both chance-based and skill-based game modes
(RQ-0637-KP)

Dear Senator Hall:

You ask whether Chapter 47 of the Penal Code applies to certain electronic amusement
machines. 1 As background, you describe the interrelated games on these machines in detail. See
Request Letter at 1–2. In that context, you inquire whether machines that combine an initial
chance-based game with a subsequent skill-based game qualify as “gambling device[s]” under
Chapter 47. Id. at 1. We begin by summarizing the facts you provide.

You describe amusement machines featuring a combination of chance-based and
skill-based play.

As we understand it, the machines described in your request operate in two interconnected
modes. See id. at 1−2. In the first mode, a player inserts “currency or tokens into the machine” to
obtain credits and then plays a game that functions “like a video slot machine.” Id. at 1. You
explain that “the electronic symbols are arranged randomly,” and the player exercises no “control
over where each electronic symbol is displayed.” Id. Players “win or lose credits depending on the
random arrangement of the nine electronic symbols.” Id. If a player continues playing, the machine
charges additional credits for each new spin and displays a fresh random arrangement. Id.

You tell us that the machine also offers an optional secondary mode called “Follow Me.”
Id. This mode allows participants to “reclaim the consideration they have just wagered and lost
during their most recent unsuccessful spin.” Id. at 1−2. It displays numbers one through nine, and
the player must press numbers “in a certain order determined by the machine.” Id. at 2. The

1
See Letter from Hon. Bob Hall, Chairman, S. Comm. on Admin., to Hon. Ken Paxton, Tex. Att’y Gen. at 1
(Mar. 6, 2026), https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/request-files/request/2026/RQ0637KP
.pdf (“Request Letter”).
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sequence lengthens until the player either makes a mistake or successfully “press[es] a string of
twenty numbers in the correct order.” Id. A successful completion returns “the amount wagered
and lost on the previous roll.” Id.

Together, these two modes combine a chance-based slot-style game with a skill-based
memory-sequence game that offers players a structured opportunity to recoup losses from the first
game. We cannot determine through the opinion process whether any specific machine qualifies
as a gambling device, because that determination is a highly fact dependent inquiry. See Tex. Att’y
Gen. Op. No. KP-0425 (2023) at 3. But we can explain how Chapter 47 applies generally to
machines possessing the characteristics that you describe.

Penal Code Chapter 47 generally prohibits gambling devices.

The Texas Penal Code generally prohibits gambling devices. In relevant part, section 47.06
criminalizes the ownership, manufacture, transfer, or possession of “any gambling device” or any
equipment “designed as a subassembly or essential part of a gambling device.” TEX. PENAL CODE
§ 47.06(a). Sections 47.03 and 47.04 prohibit operation of or participation in a “gambling place,”
id. §§ 47.03(a)(1), .04(a), which Chapter 47 defines to include any property where gambling
devices are played, id. § 47.01(3). And Chapter 47 defines the term “gambling device” to mean
the following:

any electronic, electromechanical, or mechanical contrivance . . .
that for a consideration affords the player an opportunity to obtain
anything of value, the award of which is determined solely or
partially by chance, even though accompanied by some skill,
whether or not the prize is automatically paid by the contrivance. 2

Id. § 47.01(4) (emphases added) (footnote added). Your question requires us to determine whether
the combination of a chance-based slot game and a subsequent skill-based memory game falls
within this statutory definition—specifically, whether the award of value is determined “partially
by chance, even though accompanied by some skill.” See id.; Request Letter at 1.

Any element of chance suffices to render an electronic amusement machine a
“gambling device” under Chapter 47 of the Penal Code.

Our office employs the same tools of statutory construction commonly utilized by courts.
See Tex. Att’y Gen. Op. No. KP-0144 (2017) at 3. We therefore read subsection 47.01(4) in
context, “giving effect to every word, clause, and sentence.” In re Off. of Att’y Gen., 422 S.W.3d
623, 629 (Tex. 2013) (orig. proceeding). We begin with the text to determine and effectuate “the
Legislature’s intent as expressed by the plain and common meaning of the statute’s words.” F.F.P.
Operating Partners, L.P. v. Duenez, 237 S.W.3d 680, 683 (Tex. 2007). And we “presume the
Legislature selected statutory words, phrases, and expressions deliberately and purposefully and

2
The definition also expressly includes certain electronic games that “operate by chance or partially so, that
as a result of the play or operation of the game award credits or free games,” and that “record the number of free
games or credits so awarded and the cancellation or removal of the free games or credits.” TEX. PENAL CODE
§ 47.01(4)(A).
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was just as careful in selecting the words, phrases, and expressions that were included or omitted.”
In re Xerox Corp., 555 S.W.3d 518, 527 (Tex. 2018).

Under subsection 47.01(4)’s plain language, a gambling device need not rely entirely—or
even primarily—on chance. See TEX. PENAL CODE § 47.01(4). So long as chance plays any role in
determining whether the player obtains something of value, the device satisfies the statutory
definition. Texas courts have consistently applied this “plain and ordinary meaning.” See, e.g.,
State v. Gambling Device, 859 S.W.2d 519, 523 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1993, writ
denied). In particular, the First Court of Appeals explained that gambling devices under Chapter
47 include “contrivances that incorporate any element of chance, even if the exercise of skill also
influences the outcome.” Id. Indeed, “[e]ven a contrivance that is predominantly a game of skill
may be determined by chance.” Id. (emphasis added).

Applying these principles to the games you describe leads us to conclude that any award
of value remains inextricably intertwined with the element of chance. A player must begin with
the primary game that functions like a “video slot machine.” Request Letter at 1. Such machines
are widely recognized as games of chance. See State v. Fry, 867 S.W.2d 398, 402 (Tex. App.—
Houston [14th Dist.] 1993, no pet.) (recognizing that the Legislature intended Chapter 47’s
definition of gambling device “to reach devices such as slot machines,” including a “video slot
machine”). This first mode operates entirely by random symbol arrangement, over which the
player has no control. Request Letter at 1. No credits or prizes are available except through this
chance-based game. See id. Indeed, only after a loss of the primary game does the player gain
access to the optional “Follow Me” skill-based portion of the game. 3 Id. at 1−2. Thus, a player
certainly has “an opportunity to obtain [something] of value[] . . . determined solely or partially
by chance.” TEX. PENAL CODE § 47.01(4). And the skill-based portion of the game does nothing
to alter this fact. For these reasons, machines with the features you describe qualify as “gambling
devices” under Chapter 47. 4

3
As presented, a player could win something of value purely through the chance-based mode and then
simply stop playing. A lucky player may never even encounter the “Follow Me” mode at all. If a player never lost
the chance-based round of play or simply declined to play the skill-based portion, the gains from earlier rounds would
be realized purely pursuant to a game of chance.
4
We need not address your second question, as it is contingent on us reaching the contrary conclusion that
the machines you describe are games of skill and thus not subject to Chapter 47’s prohibitions. See Request Letter at
1 (asking whether “a game of skill [may] award a prize in an amount greater than $5 in value”).
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S U M M A R Y

An amusement machine that offers both a chance-based
game mode as well as a skill-based mode is a gambling device under
Penal Code Chapter 47 so long as chance plays any role in
determining whether the player receives something of value,
regardless of the presence of skill.

Very truly yours,

KEN PAXTON
Attorney General of Texas

BRENT WEBSTER
First Assistant Attorney General

RALPH MOLINA
Deputy First Assistant Attorney General

D. FORREST BRUMBAUGH
Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel

MICHAEL C. COTTON
Chair, Opinion Committee

AMY L. K. WILLS
Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee