I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5020

To prohibit Internet gambling.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 27, 2000

Mr. CONYERS (for himself and Mr. CANNON) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To prohibit Internet gambling.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Comprehensive Inter5 net Gambling Prohibition Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITION.

7 Section 1081 of title 18, United States Code, is

8 amended—

9 (1) by designating the five undesignated para10 graphs that begin with ‘‘The term’’ as paragraphs

11 (1) through (5) respectively;

12 (2) in paragraph (5), as so designated—
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1 (A) by striking ‘‘wire communication’’ and

2 inserting ‘‘communication’’;

3 (B) by inserting ‘‘satellite, microwave,’’

4 after ‘‘cable,’’; and

5 (C) by inserting ‘‘(whether fixed or mo6 bile)’’ after ‘‘connection’’; and

7 (3) by adding at the end the following:

8 ‘‘(6) The term ‘information assisting in the

9 placing of bets or wagers’ means information know10 ingly transmitted by an individual in the business of

11 betting or wagering for use in placing, receiving,

12 making, or otherwise enabling or facilitating a bet or

13 wager that violates applicable Federal, State, tribal,

14 or local law, but does not include—

15 ‘‘(A) the transmission of information for

16 use in news reporting of wagering activities, as

17 long as such transmission does not solicit or

18 provide information for the purpose of facili19 tating or enabling the placing or receipt of bets

20 or wagers in a jurisdiction where such betting

21 is illegal;

22 ‘‘(B) any posting or reporting of any edu23 cational information on how to make a legal bet

24 or wager or the nature of betting or wagering,

25 as long as such transmission does not solicit or
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1 provide information for the purpose of facili2 tating or enabling the placing or receipt of bets

3 or wagers in a jurisdiction where such betting

4 is illegal;

5 ‘‘(C) advertising relating to betting or wa6 gering in a jurisdiction where such betting or

7 wagering is legal, as long as such advertising

8 does not solicit or provide information for the

9 purpose of facilitating or enabling the placing

10 or receipt of bets or wagers in a jurisdiction

11 where such betting is illegal; or

12 ‘‘(D) the transmission of information as13 sisting in the placing of bets or wagers from a

14 State or foreign country where such bets or wa15 gers are legal into a State or foreign country in

16 which such betting or wagering is legal.

17 ‘‘(7) The term ‘transmission’ or ‘transmit’

18 means to place, send, receive, transfer, post, dissemi19 nate, or otherwise convey from one person or place

20 to another.

21 ‘‘(8) The term ‘fantasy sports league or rotis22 serie league’ means an activity that—

23 ‘‘(A) consists of persons who pay an en24 trance or administrative fee to participate in a

25 league that allows each participant to create a
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1 fictitious team composed of athletes from a pro2 fessional sport;

3 ‘‘(B) allows for the selection or subsequent

4 replacement of players without charging any

5 fees in excess of the initial entrance or adminis6 trative fee;

7 ‘‘(C) allows a participant to accrue points

8 for the performance of that participant’s team

9 that can be compared to the points secured by

10 other participants and may award de minimis

11 prizes daily, weekly, or monthly during the reg12 ular season or after each round of postseason

13 play based on total points accrued, or other

14 prizes at the conclusion of the regular season or

15 postseason, or both based on the cumulative

16 points accrued during the regular season or

17 postseason, or both;

18 ‘‘(D) designates the specific prizes (includ19 ing amounts, if monetary prizes) to be won by

20 participants in the league at the start of the

21 regular season before the registration of, or ac22 ceptance of fees from, the participants and does

23 not base the value of prizes on the number of

24 participants or the total amount of entrance or

25 administrative fees collected; and
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1 ‘‘(E) provides to each participant the rules

2 governing the conduct of the fantasy sports

3 league.

4 ‘‘(9) The term ‘bets or wagers’ means the stak5 ing or risking by any person of something of value

6 upon—

7 ‘‘(A) any contest or game based in whole

8 or in part on chance, including a lottery;

9 ‘‘(B) one or more sporting events or con10 tests, or one or more performances of the par11 ticipants in such events or contests, including

12 any scheme of a type described in section 3702

13 of title 28, United States Code; or

14 ‘‘(C) a future contingent event not under

15 the person’s control or influence;

16 with an agreement or understanding that the person

17 or another person will or may receive something of

18 value as a result of such stake or risk. However,

19 such term does not include a bona fide business

20 transaction in securities or commodities of the na21 ture governed by the Federal securities and trading

22 laws of the United States, a contract of indemnity

23 or guarantee, a contract for insurance, or an en24 trance or administrative fee collected by a fantasy

25 sports or rotisserie league where the operation of or
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1 participation in such league does not violate applica2 ble Federal, State, tribal, or local laws and such

3 league does not collect fees from or allow participa4 tion by individuals under the age of 18.’’.

5 SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF EXISTING PROHIBITION.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1084 of title 18, United

7 States Code, is amended to read as follows:

8 ‘‘§ 1084. Use of a communication facility to transmit

9 bets or wagers; penalties

10 ‘‘(a) Whoever being engaged in the business of bet11 ting or wagering knowingly uses a communication

12 facility—

13 ‘‘(1) for the transmission in interstate or for14 eign commerce, within the special maritime and ter15 ritorial jurisdiction of the United States, or to or

16 from any place outside the jurisdiction of any nation

17 with respect to any transmission to or from the

18 United States, of bets or wagers, or information as19 sisting in the placing of bets or wagers; or

20 ‘‘(2) for the transmission of a communication in

21 interstate or foreign commerce, within the special

22 maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United

23 States, or to or from any place outside the jurisdic24 tion of any nation with respect to any transmission

25 to or from the United States, which entitles the re-
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1 cipient to receive money or credit as a result of bets

2 or wagers, or for information assisting in the placing

3 of bets or wagers,

4 shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than

5 two years, or both.

6 ‘‘(b) Nothing contained in this section creates immu7 nity from criminal prosecution under any laws of any

8 State or tribe.

9 ‘‘(c)(1) When any person or entity is notified in writ10 ing by a Federal, State, tribal, or local law enforcement

11 agency, acting within its jurisdiction, that any communica12 tion facility furnished by it is being used or will be used

13 by its subscriber for the purpose of transmitting bets or

14 wagers, or information assisting in the placing of bets or

15 wagers, in interstate or foreign commerce, within the spe16 cial maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United

17 States, or to or from any place outside the jurisdiction

18 of any nation with respect to any transmission to or from

19 the United States in violation of Federal, State, tribal, or

20 local law, it shall discontinue or refuse, the leasing, fur21 nishing, or maintaining of such facility, after reasonable

22 notice to the subscriber, but no damages, penalty, or for23 feiture, civil or criminal, shall be found against any person

24 or entity for any act done in compliance with any notice

25 received from a law enforcement agency. Nothing in this
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1 section shall be deemed to prejudice the right of any per2 son affected thereby to secure an appropriate determina3 tion, as otherwise provided by law, in a Federal court or

4 in a State, tribal, or local tribunal or agency, that such

5 facility should not be discontinued or removed, or should

6 be restored.

7 ‘‘(2) A notice described in this subsection must—

8 ‘‘(A) identify the communication facility, gam9 bling related material, or activity that allegedly vio10 lates this section, and allege that such facility, mate11 rial, or activity violates this section;

12 ‘‘(B) provide information reasonably sufficient

13 to permit the provider of the wire communication fa14 cility to locate (and, as appropriate, to discontinue

15 or refuse the leasing, furnishing, or maintaining) of

16 such facility;

17 ‘‘(C) be supplied to any agent of a provider of

18 the wire communication facility designated in ac19 cordance with section 512(c)(2) of title 17, if infor20 mation regarding such designation is readily avail21 able to the public;

22 ‘‘(D) provide information that is reasonably suf23 ficient to permit the provider of the wire commu24 nication facility to contact the law enforcement

25 agency that issued the notice, including the name of
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1 the law enforcement agency, and the name and tele2 phone number of an individual to contact at the law

3 enforcement agency (and, if available, the electronic

4 mail address of that individual); and

5 ‘‘(E) declare under penalties of perjury that the

6 person submitting the notice is an official of the law

7 enforcement agency described in subparagraph (D).

8 ‘‘(d) Nothing in this section shall repeal or amend

9 the rights or privileges secured tribes under the Indian

10 Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.)

11 or under Indian treaties.

12 ‘‘(e) As used in this section—

13 ‘‘(1) term ‘State’ means a State of the United

14 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth

15 of Puerto Rico, or a commonwealth, territory, or

16 possession of the United States; and

17 ‘‘(2) the term ‘tribe’ or ‘tribal’ refers to an In18 dian tribe, as defined under section 4(5) of the In19 dian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (25 U.S.C.

20 2703(5)).

21 ‘‘(f) INTERACTIVE COMPUTER SERVICE PRO22 VIDERS.—

23 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection:

24 ‘‘(A) INTERACTIVE COMPUTER SERVICE.—

25 The term ‘interactive computer service’ means
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1 any interactive computer service that operates

2 in interstate or foreign commerce and provides

3 or enables access by multiple users to a com4 puter server, including a service that—

5 ‘‘(i) provides an information location

6 tool to refer to link users to an online loca7 tion, including a directory, index, or hyper8 text link;

9 ‘‘(ii) is engaged in the transmission,

10 storage, retrieval, hosting, formatting, or

11 translation of a communication made by

12 another person without selection or alter13 ation of the content of that communica14 tion, other than that done in good faith to

15 prevent or avoid a violation of law; or

16 ‘‘(iii) provides access to the Internet.

17 ‘‘(B) INTERACTIVE COMPUTER SERVICE

18 PROVIDER.—The term ‘interactive computer

19 service provider’ means any person that pro20 vides an interactive computer service, to the ex21 tent that such person offers or provides such

22 service.

23 ‘‘(C) INTERNET.—The term ‘Internet’

24 means the international computer network of
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1 both Federal and non-Federal interoperable

2 packet switched data networks.

3 ‘‘(2) IMMUNITY FROM LIABILITY FOR USE BY

4 ANOTHER.—

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An interactive com6 puter service provider shall not be liable, under

7 this section or any other provision of Federal or

8 State law prohibiting or regulating gambling or

9 gambling-related activities, for the use of its fa10 cilities or services by another person to engage

11 in Internet gambling activity that violates such

12 law—

13 ‘‘(i) arising out of any transmitting,

14 routing, or providing of connections for

15 gambling-related material or activity (in16 cluding intermediate and temporary stor17 age in the course of such transmitting,

18 routing, or providing connections) by the

19 provider, if—

20 ‘‘(I) the material or activity was

21 initiated by or at the direction of a

22 person other than the provider;

23 ‘‘(II) the transmitting, routing,

24 or providing of connections is carried

25 out through an automatic process
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1 without selection of the material or

2 activity by the provider;

3 ‘‘(III) the provider does not se4 lect the recipients of the material or

5 activity, except as an automatic re6 sponse to the request of another per7 son; and

8 ‘‘(IV) the material or activity is

9 transmitted through the system or

10 network of the provider without modi11 fication of its content; or

12 ‘‘(ii) arising out of any gambling-re13 lated material or activity at an online site

14 residing on a computer server owned, con15 trolled, or operated by or for the provider,

16 or arising out of referring or linking users

17 to an online location containing such mate18 rial or activity, if the material or activity

19 was initiated by or at the direction of a

20 person other than the provider.

21 ‘‘(3) IMMUNITY FROM LIABILITY FOR ADVER22 TISING OR PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES.—

23 ‘‘(A) An interactive computer service pro24 vider shall not be liable, under any provision of

25 Federal or State law prohibiting or regulating
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1 gambling or gambling-related activities, or

2 under any State law prohibiting or regulating

3 advertising and promotional activities, for con4 tent, provided by another person, that adver5 tises or promotes gambling activity that violates

6 such law, unless the provider is engaged in the

7 business of such gambling.

8 ‘‘(4) EFFECT ON OTHER LAW.—

9 ‘‘(A) IMMUNITY FROM LIABILITY FOR COM10 PLIANCE.—An interactive computer service pro11 vider shall not be liable for any damages, pen12 alty, or forfeiture, civil or criminal, under Fed13 eral or State law for taking in good faith any

14 action to comply with a notice described in sub15 section (c).

16 ‘‘(B) DISCLAIMER OF OBLIGATIONS.—

17 Nothing in this section may be construed to im18 pose or authorize an obligation on an inter19 active computer service provider—

20 ‘‘(i) to monitor material or use of its

21 service; or

22 ‘‘(ii) except as required by a notice

23 under subsection (c), to discontinue or
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1 refuse the leasing, furnishing, or maintain2 ing of a facility.’’.

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