In short
The gaming and wagering section of the Civil Code of 2020 has six articles and rests entirely on a distinction the Code itself does not resolve: lawful versus unlawful games. Article 1510 says it flatly: the law grants no action to claim what is won in unlawful games of whatever kind. Winning creates no enforceable claim. Article 1511 looks at the other side of the table, at whoever already paid, and carries the section’s most concrete number: the person who voluntarily pays an unlawful gaming debt, or their heirs, is entitled to demand restitution of fifty per cent of what was paid; the other fifty per cent is paid to the Secretario de Hacienda. Neither all recovered nor all lost: half comes back and half goes to the Treasury. Article 1512 is the one that defers without naming: the law determines which games are lawful and how, when and where they may be held; and it adds a rule of its own that can be read here — games in which the players’ physical or intellectual skill is tested are permitted provided no wager intervenes. Article 1513 closes the back door: contracts originating in a gaming debt are null. A promissory note or debt acknowledgement born there does not rescue the collection. Article 1514 extends the four preceding articles to wagers. And Article 1515 deals with something else: where persons agree that lot shall resolve the division of common things or put an end to a controversy, it produces, in the first case, the effects of partition and, in the second, those of transaction. Which games are lawful in Puerto Rico is not in the Code and this guide does not say: Article 1512 sends it to a law it does not name, and we did not read it.
What is it?
They are Articles 1510 to 1515 of the Civil Code of 2020: why unlawful gaming winnings cannot be collected, what the payer recovers, what happens to contracts born of a gaming debt, and what effects deciding by lot has.
Who can do it?
People involved in a gaming or wagering debt governed by the Puerto Rico Civil Code, and those who agree to resolve a division or a dispute by lot.
Requirements
- The law grants no action to claim what is won in unlawful games of whatever kind.Verified against the official source
- Whoever voluntarily pays an unlawful gaming debt, or their heirs, may demand restitution of 50% of what was paid.Verified against the official source
- The other 50% is paid to the Secretario de Hacienda.Verified against the official source
- Contracts originating in a gaming debt are null, and all the foregoing applies equally to wagers.Verified against the official source
Documents you need
Cost
Step by step
Step 1: Winning at an unlawful game creates no claim
Article 1510: the law grants no action to claim what is won in unlawful games of whatever kind. It is not that the debt is hard to collect: there is no action to claim it.
Step 2: If you already paid: half comes back
Article 1511: the person who voluntarily pays an unlawful gaming debt, or their heirs, is entitled to demand restitution of fifty per cent of what was paid. The right reaches the heirs too, and the article says so expressly.
Step 3: And the other half goes to the Treasury
The same article: the other fifty per cent is paid to the Secretario de Hacienda. Whoever received the payment keeps nothing, but whoever paid does not get it all back either.
Step 4: How it is claimed: the article does not say
It fixes no procedure, forum or period, and does not say who collects the Treasury’s half or how. This guide points at that gap and does not fill it.
Step 5: Which games are lawful: the Code does not settle it
Article 1512: the law determines which games are lawful and how, when and where they may be held. The whole section turns on that distinction and the Code sends it to a law it does not name. We did not read it for this guide, so nothing here says which games are lawful in Puerto Rico and no norm is named.
Step 6: The skill rule that is written down
Second sentence of 1512: games in which the players’ physical or intellectual skill is tested are permitted provided no wager intervenes. The final condition decides: the moment a wager enters, the rule stops covering.
Step 7: Signing a paper does not fix the debt
Article 1513: contracts originating in a gaming debt are null. Turning the debt into a note, an acknowledgement or a loan does not restore its enforceability: the contract born there is null.
Step 8: All of this applies equally to wagers
Article 1514: what the four preceding articles provide is applicable to wagers. The Code does not treat them separately; it puts them under the same regime.
Step 9: Deciding by lot is a different matter
Article 1515: where persons agree that lot shall resolve the division of common things or put an end to a controversy, it produces, in the first case, the effects of partition and, in the second, those of transaction. Drawing lots to divide or to settle is not forbidden gaming: the Code gives it concrete effects.
Step 10: And it refers to two regimes that exist separately
That article invents no rules: it sends you to those of partition and of transaction. Transaction has its own guides on this site; there you find, for instance, that it produces the effects of res judicata.
Where to do it
The Code names no agency for this section. The claim for the 50% of Article 1511 and the nullity of Article 1513 are litigated before the Court of First Instance; the article describes no procedure. The half corresponding to the Secretario de Hacienda is named by the Code without saying how it is paid.
How long it takes
What to do if something goes wrong
If your question is which games of chance are permitted in Puerto Rico, or what franchise or licence is needed, that subject is not in the Civil Code: Article 1512 sends it to a law it does not name, and this site has its own guides on gaming licences and franchises. If the game was lawful, Article 1510 is written for unlawful ones. If yours is a compulsive gambling problem, there is a separate guide on the programme that exists for it. These articles fix no procedure or period to claim the 50%, and do not say who collects the Treasury’s half. MiPRFácil does not represent anyone in court and gives no legal advice.
Common mistakes
- Suing to collect winnings from an unlawful game: Article 1510 grants no action.
- Believing the payer recovers everything: Article 1511 returns 50%.
- Forgetting that the other 50% is paid to the Secretario de Hacienda.
- Overlooking that the right in Article 1511 also reaches the heirs.
- Signing a note or debt acknowledgement to "fix" a gaming debt: that contract is null.
- Assuming wagers have a separate regime: Article 1514 applies the four preceding articles to them.
- Believing a skill game is covered even with a wager: Article 1512 requires that no wager intervene.
- Looking in the Civil Code for the list of lawful games: Article 1512 sends it to another law it does not name.
- Confusing the division or decision by lot of Article 1515 with forbidden gaming.
Frequently asked questions
Someone owes me money from a wager. Can I sue?
Article 1510 says the law grants no action to claim what is won in unlawful games of whatever kind, and Article 1514 applies that rule to wagers.
I paid a gaming debt. Can I get it back?
Article 1511 gives the right to demand restitution of fifty per cent of what was paid, to the payer or their heirs. The other fifty per cent is paid to the Secretario de Hacienda.
We signed a note for that debt. Is it valid?
Article 1513 says contracts originating in a gaming debt are null.
Which games are lawful in Puerto Rico?
Article 1512 says the law determines which games are lawful and how, when and where they may be held, but does not name it. We did not read it for this guide and none is named here.
Official sources
These are the government pages this guide is based on.
- Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico
Poder Judicial
bvirtualogp.pr.gov
Last verified
September 10, 2026
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Did you find out-of-date information?
Contracts of chance: the risk is assumed, the rest can still be rescinded
Article 1507 subjects aleatory contracts to the general rules of efficacy and inefficacy, rescission included, except as to the assumption of risk.
Gambling without a franchise: who commits a crime and what it costs
Act 30-2026 raised the penalties: running an unlicensed hall is $15,000 or a year, and $25,000 or three years on each later conviction.
Compulsive gambling help: the register is confidential by law
Act 74-2006 creates the Compulsive Gamblers Help Program at ASSMCA and orders a separate confidential register, with non-therapeutic use prohibited.
Settling a dispute: the agreement has the effects of res judicata
Article 1500 gives the settlement the effects of res judicata, and 1499 orders it interpreted restrictively.
What an obligation is and where it comes from
Six sources, and the list stays open. Whoever performs knowing they were not bound cannot demand it back.
What you sign has the force of law: the limits of freedom to contract
You may contract or not, and with whom you like, but not abusively. And what the contract omits is filled by law, usage and good faith.