Fortune Telling vs For entertainment purposes only

Careers/Working in Tarot

I’m a relatively new reader trying to fold tarot reading into my already thriving party entertainment business. However, I’m in a location that has a law on the books about fortune telling, and I’m trying to figure out how to work around or with this law.

What I’ve gathered so far is that tarot is generally considered fortune telling so in theory it falls under this law. Each town in my state would have to give me a license in order for me to operate which makes traveling for parties basically out of the question. However, no professional reader that I have spoken to has even heard of this law, so no one else seems to be licensed! It also seems to be almost never enforced. There is a thought that saying the work I do is for entertainment purposes only would protect me from being legally seen as a fortune teller , but it’s still a gray area.

Would love to know what people do to balance following the rules, protecting themselves and also running a business in a sensible way.

Thank you!

My state is Massachusetts and some towns do have more robust statues on the books (Cambridge for example). I’m not near there.

Posted Aug 3, 2026, 10:44 AM UTC

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