Short answer. Yes, but only subsidiarily. Article 2014 lets any loser in a game of chance recover his loss from the winner, with legal interest, and subsidiarily from the operator or manager of the gambling house. So if you cannot collect from the winner, the operator becomes answerable for what you lost.
What the law says
But any loser in a game of chance may recover his loss from the winner, with legal interest from the time he paid the amount lost, and subsidiarily from the operator or manager of the gambling house.
Civil Code, Article 2014 — No Recovery of Gambling Winnings. Read the full provision →
The winner cannot sue, but the loser can
Article 2014 turns the usual assumption about gambling debts on its head. It first provides that no action can be maintained by the winner for the collection of what he has won in a game of chance — the winner cannot go to court to enforce a gambling debt against you. It then goes further and gives the loser an affirmative right: any loser in a game of chance may recover his loss from the winner. The law refuses to lend its courts to enforce winnings, yet allows the loser to claw back money already parted with. Your primary target is the winner.
The operator is only secondarily liable
The operator's exposure is described by one important word — subsidiarily. Under Article 2014 you may recover subsidiarily from the operator or manager of the gambling house. Subsidiary liability means secondary, not primary: the operator answers only when recovery from the winner cannot be had. So the order matters. You look first to the person who actually won your money; only if that proves fruitless — the winner cannot be found, is insolvent, or simply cannot be made to pay — does the operator or manager of the gambling house step in to make good the loss.
Legal interest runs from when you paid
The provision also fixes when interest starts. You may recover your loss with legal interest from the time he paid the amount lost. Interest does not run only from the date you demand or file suit; it runs from the moment you actually handed over the money you lost. That can add meaningfully to what you recover where the loss is an old one. The interest is the legal rate applied to the sum lost, and it attaches to the claim against the winner and, subsidiarily, to the claim against the operator or manager in the same way.
What kind of game, and what this does not cover
Two limits are worth keeping in mind. First, the article speaks of a game of chance — a game whose outcome turns on luck rather than skill. Games of skill and lawful, regulated wagers can be governed by different rules, so the character of the game matters. Second, this recovery right does not bless or legalise illegal gambling; it is a remedy handed to the loser, not a shield for the house. Nor does it let a winner enforce winnings by dressing the claim up as something else. Keep proof of what you paid, to whom, and when.