1. Gambling Policy In The Workplace
2. Gambling Policy In The Workplace Organization
3. Gambling Policy In The Workplace Definition
4. Gambling In The Workplace Policy
5. Gambling Policy In The Workplace Act

To: All Employees. From: Melinda Loftin, Designated Agency Ethics Official. Subject: Gambling in the Workplace. March Madness fever is here. Millions of anxious viewers will be glued to the season's basketball games, ready to pick their brackets and, for many, place bets on their favorite team.

You walk down the halls of your workplace and activity is at a level of frenzy you’ve seldom seen. It has nothing to do with work, of course. It’s all about who will win the big game on Sunday.

1. Information about creating a workplace gambling policy, including useful tips and a sample policy. Additional resources about gambling in the workplace, workplace problem gambling symptoms, and a 21-step system to help employees recover from gambling addiction.
2. As a matter of policy, XYZ Corp. Prohibits employee gambling: (1) at all places during work hours, and (2) on company premises at all times—including breaks. In other words, don't gamble when you should be working, and don't ever gamble on company property. Gambling is the wagering of money or other valuables on the outcome of events.
3. To sum up, we recommend a workplace gambling policy and programmes that adopt a supportive approach and focuses on health promotion and prevention, education and harm reduction strategies.

OK, most of it is harmless and will expire as the clock winds down on the field. But there may also be an undercurrent of money changing hands, based on who won, who lost, and what the point spread was. This may not be so harmless.

As we noted in yesterday’s Daily Advisor, the only side that always loses in workplace gambling is the employer. Lost productivity due to time spent on just one of many sports gambling activities, Fantasy Football, costs employers a cool billion dollars a week.

What it all points to is that you may need a policy on workplace gambling. Easy to write? Not so fast, sport. Actually, there are quite a number of points that need to be observed in formulating it. Thanks to SmartPolicies, BLR’s CD-based encyclopedia of more than 350 prewritten, and ready-to-use HR policies, here are some questions to ask.

–Will you prohibit all gambling or just illegal gambling? What about in special situations, such as entertaining clients?

–Are all gambling items banned from the premises? How about a deck of cards or a handheld video poker game? Or a legally purchased lottery ticket?

–What is your policy on searching employees and on what happens if they refuse to cooperate with an investigation?

–Problem gambling is often considered an addiction, just like drugs or alcohol. The Americans with Disabilities Act does not specifically protect gambling addicts from adverse employment actions, but state law may. What are the provisions in your state?

–Can you legally ban employees from gambling during off-duty hours if you feel it reflects badly on your brand or organization?

–Where are the limits if you choose only a partial ban? Is it OK for individual employees to purchase lottery tickets but not OK for employees to jointly buy them?

If you’d like to know how SmartPolicies answered these questions, here’s an abridged version of the sample policy on the CD. Keep in mind that all SmartPolicies are modifiable on your computer, so if this one is tougher (or more lenient) than what you’d prefer, it can be instantly customized to your use.

“Gambling is not permitted on company property during work hours, during breaks, during lunch periods in the company cafeteria, while traveling on company business, at company functions, or while entertaining clients.

“Company facilities may not be used to gamble (examples are given.) Gambling paraphernalia is not permitted on company facilities or in company vehicles. Gambling includes, but is not limited to, poker, horse betting, fantasy football bets, etc., etc.

“Any drawings, contests, or similar advertising promotions are to be approved by the human resources [or legal] department to ensure the promotion is not an illegal lottery.

“Employees desks, lockers, vehicles, Internet usage, email … may be inspected to ensure compliance with this policy. Employees are expected to cooperate with any investigation and employees who violate this policy are subject to discipline, up to and including termination.”

There are more than 350 other prewritten, legally reviewed policies on this CD and, if you’ll allow us a short plug for it, we think SmartPolicies is the program that smart HR managers should use to quickly and effectively meet all their HR policy writing needs. You can prove that to yourself by taking our marketing department’s offer to let you evaluate the program for 30 days at no cost or obligation. Details on how to do that, along with a look at the full table of contents and another sample of the program, can be accessed by clicking on the links below.

View Product Sample
View Table of Contents

For more information, or to start your FREE 30-day trial of SmartPolicies on CD-ROM, click here.

The best advice for office pools is to keep betting 'in': informal, infrequent and insignificant. That way you won't invite unwanted guests - a category that includes the police and people that you know can't pay up.

by Jessica Zimmer
updated July 17, 2014 · 4min read

It's March Madness, and you are down to the last few seconds of a game. Your office manager takes your last-minute bet as Arizona makes a run for the basket. But, is more than the pool at risk?

Gambling Policy In The Workplace

Are you safe?

Not in Wisconsin. It does not matter how much was in the pot - state law prohibits placing bets. There the offense is a Class B misdemeanor.

Office pools are legal in most states, though there are a number of exceptions, including Hawai'i, Florida and Illinois. There are three questions that you should ask before you set up a pool to determine whether the pool is legal.

First, does your state allow informal sports betting? It is safest to confine your betting pool to persons and a location situated within a state that permits the pool. Taking bets across state lines can tangle the taking and disbursement of proceeds. In addition, take care that your activities fit within the scope of local county or city ordinances regarding betting pools. Local authorities generally do not take the time to investigate businesses that do not have a license to organize gambling activities. But businesses with a liquor license are more open to the public. Bars, restaurants and stores also present more opportunities for gambling than other establishments. Police are more likely to hear about pools at places with a liquor license and so may check on them for illegal activity on a regular basis.

Is your game safe? Bets on NCAA basketball matches, as on other amateur sports, are out of the question unless you are in Nevada.

Second, is your game safe? Bets on NCAA basketball matches, as on other amateur sports, are out of the question unless you are in Nevada. Congress, however, is currently considering foreclosing Nevada's exclusion through the pending Student Athlete Protection Act, a follow-up to the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PAPSA). Although football squares for professional teams may be a good choice, it is never harmless to bet on a co-worker's personal or work-related activities. Such pools may violate employment laws. They are likely to open up the company to civil suits for employment discrimination and sexual harassment.

Third, does your pool follow common sense rules? If police are tipped off to the pool, they will first examine the amount of money and people involved. If the numbers start to get out of hand, so does their investigation. That goes double if the pools are held often and your business brings people out of the office into the pool. A pool that involves minors is always suspect. So is a pool where the house receives a cut. Setting up a pool through the Internet can pose problems. A temporary website can be classified as an online betting site if it appears that your business is regularly engaged in setting up pools. If you want to pay out people through an Internet payment site, you will need to ask the site whether it allows this practice for residents of your state. PayPal, for example, does not allow New York residents to use the site for online gambling, and will go so far as to alert New York law enforcement officials if the site is used improperly.

Gambling Policy In The Workplace Organization

The last question that you will want to ask is whether an office pool is against company rules. Just because the pool is legal does not mean you will not get fired for running it.

Office pools are tricky to monitor not only because they are private activities, but because states have different definitions of gambling.

Gambling Policy In The Workplace Definition

Hawai'i allows 'social gambling' in which a person receives his own winnings and persons compete on equal terms, but not activities in which people earn money for promoting gambling.

States treat certain games such as bingos and lotteries differently, and may not consider them to be gambling if they are run by charities.

Gambling In The Workplace Policy

The best way to make sure that your office pool is legal is to read state and local statutes regarding gambling before the fact. Then set up a pool that is fair, accountable, and does not involve ambiguous paperwork. If you plan to award substantial amounts of money through the pool, and especially if there is paperwork that can be traced to your company, inform participants that gambling winnings should be reported on IRS forms. Finally, be aware that employees and businesses may be held liable for wrongful activity even if you write out documents that appear to absolve persons and entities from responsibility.

Gambling Policy In The Workplace Act

The best advice for office pools is to keep betting 'in': informal, infrequent and insignificant. That way you won't invite unwanted guests - a category that includes the police and people that you know can't pay up.