The organization of any chain letter club, pyramid club, or other group organized or brought together under any plan or device whereby fees or dues or anything of material value to be paid or given by members thereof are to be paid or given to any other member thereof, which plan or device includes any provision for the increase in such membership through a chain process of new members securing other new members and thereby advancing themselves in the group to a position where such members in turn receive fees, dues, or things of material value from other members, is declared to be a lottery; and whoever shall participate in any such lottery by becoming a member of, or affiliating with, any such group or organization or whoever shall solicit any person for membership or affiliation in any such group or organization shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature; provided, however, that this Code section shall not include a "multilevel distribution company," as defined in paragraph (6) of Code Section 10-1-410, which is operating in compliance with Part 3 of Article 15 of Chapter 1 of Title 10.