When mahjong counts as gambling
Mahjong is a four-player tile game, and played for fun it’s no more gambling than rummy. It only passes the three-part test when the table plays for money, because the stakes add both a payment and a prize. That applies to every version, from Chinese mahjong to the American game run by the National Mah Jongg League, which started in New York in 1937 with 32 members and now says it has more than 350,000.
The name causes some confusion. Mahjong solitaire, the app where you clear matching pairs of tiles from a pile, shares the tiles but none of the rules. You play it alone, and the free versions have no stakes, so it isn’t gambling.
What US law says about a home game
In New York, at least, the legal risk falls on whoever runs the game rather than on the people playing. Its gambling law defines a “player” as someone who gambles only as a contestant and gets nothing beyond their own winnings. It goes on to say that a person who invites friends, lends their home and supplies the equipment for a social game, without charging a fee, still counts as a player. The crime of promoting gambling is aimed at people who help run a game “other than as a player”.
Two New York cases show where that line sits. In 2009 a Queens court threw out a promoting gambling charge over a mahjong game where police found $790, because the complaint gave no basis for calling mahjong gambling. Prosecutors were allowed to try again with better evidence. In 2012 a Brooklyn judge went further and refused to declare mahjong a game of chance as a rule, because a mix of skill and luck doesn’t automatically make it one. He still let the case against the two hosts go ahead. The house took $1 from any player who won $15 or more in a hand, and that cut is what made it promoting gambling.
How Hong Kong handles it
Hong Kong licenses mahjong parlors under its Gambling Ordinance. A licensed parlor can only run games between noon and midnight, can’t let anyone under 18 play and can’t lend money to players. It may take a commission from the stakes, but only up to the percentage written on its license. The government’s stated policy is to approve a new parlor only where there’s a clear need for a legal gambling outlet, and not in purely residential areas or near schools.
What it means for you
A weekly game with friends for small stakes carries little risk, legal or financial, as long as nobody profits beyond their own winnings. Under laws like New York’s, charging a table fee or taking a slice of each pot is what turns a host into someone promoting gambling. If you’re hosting, don’t charge for it.
Questions people also ask
Is mahjong solitaire gambling?
No. It's a one-player tile-matching puzzle that uses mahjong tiles, and the free versions have no stakes or prizes.
Is it illegal to play mahjong for money with friends?
Usually not, as long as everyone plays on equal terms and nobody profits beyond their own winnings. New York's gambling law, for example, treats a host who invites people and supplies the tiles without charging a fee as an ordinary player.
Is mahjong a game of skill or chance?
Both. A New York judge refused in 2012 to call it a game of chance as a rule, noting that mixing skill and luck doesn't automatically make it one. Most gambling laws only need chance to matter, though, and it does in every hand.
Is American mahjong different from Chinese mahjong?
Yes. The American game is played against a card of standard hands that the National Mah Jongg League changes every year, and it uses jokers and a tile swap called the Charleston.
Sources
- New York Penal Law section 225.00 (gambling offenses, definitions)
- People v Jun Feng, 2012 NY Slip Op 50004(U) (Crim Ct, Kings County)
- People v Li Ai Hua, 24 Misc 3d 1142 (Crim Ct, Queens County, 2009)
- Hong Kong Home Affairs Department, guide to the Mahjong/Tin Kau Licence (Gambling Ordinance, Cap. 148)
- National Mah Jongg League, about the League
- National Mah Jongg League, about the game