Kyablue

*1291 Opinion

In this case, we hold that an action lies to recover funds advanced by one party to another, to enable the latter to engage in legal gambling where the agreement reserves the right of the party advancing the money to terminate the relationship and recover money not expended. The trial court ruled otherwise in sustaining a demurrer to the complaint without leave to amend.

According to the charging pleadings, Xavier Kyablue entered into an oral agreement with defendant Abraham Watkins by which he transferred two sets of funds to Watkins, one to play poker according to Kyablue’s specific instructions where it was legal to do so, and the other as a loan for living expenses to Watkins. The trial court sustained Watkins’s demurrer on public policy grounds because the contract involved a gambling consideration. Kyablue contends the general rule against enforcement of gambling-related contracts does not apply to his complaint as pleaded, and argues the pleaded facts together with appropriate public policy considerations provide a viable cause of action on the contract. In the alternative, he contends that if the provision of the agreement involving gambling is found…