II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1668 

To restore long-standing United States policy that the Wire Act prohibits 

all forms of Internet gambling, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 24, 2015 

Mr. GRAHAM (for himself, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. LEE, Ms. AYOTTE, Mr. 

RUBIO, Mr. COATS, and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To restore long-standing United States policy that the Wire 

Act prohibits all forms of Internet gambling, and for 

other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Restoration of Amer5 ica’s Wire Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. WIRE ACT CLARIFICATION. 

7 Section 1084 of title 18, United States Code, is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (a)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘bets or wagers or infor2 mation assisting in the placing of bets or wa3 gers on any sporting event or contest,’’ and in4 serting ‘‘any bet or wager, or information as5 sisting in the placing of any bet or wager,’’; 

6 (B) by striking ‘‘result of bets or wagers’’ 

7 and inserting ‘‘result of any bet or wager’’; and 

8 (C) by striking ‘‘or for information assist9 ing in the placing of bets or wagers,’’; and 

10 (2) by striking subsection (e) and inserting the 

11 following: 

12 ‘‘(e) As used in this section— 

13 ‘‘(1) the term ‘bet or wager’ does not include 

14 any activities set forth in section 5362(1)(E) of title 

15 31; 

16 ‘‘(2) the term ‘State’ means a State of the 

17 United States, the District of Columbia, the Com18 monwealth of Puerto Rico, or a commonwealth, ter19 ritory, or possession of the United States; 

20 ‘‘(3) the term ‘uses a wire communication facil21 ity for the transmission in interstate or foreign com22 merce of any bet or wager’ includes any trans23 mission over the Internet carried interstate or in for24 eign commerce, incidentally or otherwise; and 


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1 ‘‘(4) the term ‘wire communication’ has the 

2 meaning given the term in section 3 of the Commu3 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153).’’. 

4 SEC. 3. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

5 Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this 

6 Act, shall be construed— 

7 (1) to preempt any State law prohibiting gam8 bling; or 

9 (2) to alter, limit, or extend— 

10 (A) the relationship between the Interstate 

11 Horseracing Act of 1978 (15 U.S.C. 3001 et 

12 seq.) and other Federal laws in effect on the 

13 date of enactment of this Act; 

14 (B) the ability of a State licensed lottery 

15 (including in conjunction with its supplier) or 

16 State licensed retailer to make on-premises re17 tail lottery sales, including through a self-serv18 ice retail lottery terminal, or to transmit infor19 mation ancillary to such sales (including infor20 mation relating to subscriptions or fulfillment 

21 of game play), in accordance with applicable 

22 Federal and State laws; 

23 (C) the ability of a State licensed gaming 

24 establishment or a tribal gaming establishment 

25 to transmit information assisting in the placing 


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1 of a bet or wager on the physical premises of 

2 the establishment, in accordance with applicable 

3 Federal and State laws; or 

4 (D) the relationship between Federal laws 

5 and State charitable gaming laws. 

Æ 


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