What section 13 of the Public Gambling Act says

Section 13 of the Public Gambling Act, 1867 is the street clause. In the India Code copy opened on 11 Nov 2026, a police officer may arrest without warrant a person found gambling for money, with cards, dice or similar instruments, at a game that is not mere skill, in a public street, place or thoroughfare. The original penalty in that copy is a fine not exceeding fifty rupees, or imprisonment not exceeding one calendar month. Many states have their own gambling Acts or later amendments, so the punishment that applies is the text in force where the case is registered.

What does section 13 say?

The heading in the India Code PDF is 'Gaming and setting birds and animals to fight in public streets.' A police officer may apprehend without warrant any person found playing for money or other valuable thing with cards, dice, counters or other instruments of gaming, used in playing any game not being a game of mere skill, in any public street, place or thoroughfare situated within the limits aforesaid. The same power covers a person setting birds or animals to fight there, and a person present aiding that fighting. The person apprehended shall be brought without delay before a magistrate.

The penalty sentence follows at once: a fine not exceeding fifty rupees, or imprisonment, either simple or rigorous, for any term not exceeding one calendar month. The officer may seize instruments of gaming found in that public place or on the person arrested. The magistrate may, on conviction, order those instruments destroyed. 'Within the limits aforesaid' points back to the places the Act has been extended to. The preamble and section 2 of the same PDF are about named territories and extension by notification. This page does not treat fifty rupees as the fine in every district in 2026.

Is section 13 bailable or non-bailable?

The section, as printed in that PDF, does not use the words bailable or non-bailable. This page did not open the First Schedule of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, so it does not classify the offence from that schedule. A state amendment that raises the maximum jail term can change how a court treats bail. The practical step is to read the section number written on the FIR and ask a lawyer who has the local Act. Guessing 'it is always bailable' from the 1867 maximum would ignore those amendments.

How is section 13 different from sections 3 and 4?

Sections 3 and 4 are about a common gaming-house. Section 3, in the same PDF, reaches the owner or occupier who opens, keeps or uses the place as a common gaming-house, a person who knowingly permits that, a manager or assistant, and a person who advances money for gaming with people who frequent it. The maximum there is a fine not exceeding two hundred rupees, or imprisonment not exceeding three months. Section 4 reaches a person found playing or present for gaming in such a house: a fine not exceeding one hundred rupees, or imprisonment not exceeding one month. A person found there during gaming is presumed, until the contrary is proved, to have been there for gaming.

Section 13 is the public street, place or thoroughfare, not the house. Section 12 says nothing in the foregoing provisions shall be held to apply to any game of mere skill wherever played. That exception is real, and it is not a finding that a matka draw is mere skill. The legal guide keeps the 1867 Act, state laws and the 2025 online Act apart.

Do states use this same fine?

This page did not open amended copies for Uttar Pradesh, Punjab or Madhya Pradesh, so it quotes no replacement fine. Maharashtra uses its own statute. The Maharashtra guide quotes sections 4, 5 and 12A of that Act from the state print. Online money games are a different instrument: the 2025 Act guide is the one for offering and advertising those games.

Dainik Bhaskar reported that on 2 Nov 2026 Vikasnagar police registered case 345/2026 under section 13, after a tip about mobile satta. The paper said ₹790 and a pocket diary were seized. This page does not name the person, and a registered case is not a conviction. Words on a slip, such as those in the glossary, are names for a recorded line. They are not a defence or a charge.

What if police call you or arrest you?

Read the section on the paper, and get a lawyer. NALSA's FAQ, opened on 11 Nov 2026, says a person arrested or called in for questioning can ask for free legal aid. Apply at the District Legal Services Authority front office or on nalsa.gov.in. The FAQ says aid is for people who qualify. It is not a promise that every reader qualifies.

1. Open the India Code PDF of the Public Gambling Act, 1867, and read sections 3, 4, 12 and 13 yourself.
2. Ask which state's text the police are using. Do not assume the 1867 fine is the one on your FIR.
3. If you are arrested or called in, ask the District Legal Services Authority, or a lawyer, before you explain the facts.
4. Do not treat a news report of a section 13 case as a judgment.