I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2610 
To amend subchapter IV of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, 
and section 1084 of title 18 of such Code to clarify the applicability 
of such provisions to games of skill, and establish certain requirements 
with respect to such games, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 7, 2007 
Mr. WEXLER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committees on the 
Judiciary and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently de-
termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend subchapter IV of chapter 53 of title 31, United 
States Code, and section 1084 of title 18 of such Code 
to clarify the applicability of such provisions to games 
of skill, and establish certain requirements with respect 
to such games, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act shall be known as the ‘‘Skill Game Protec-
tion Act’’.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Millions of Americans enjoy competing with 
other players in a variety of games of skill, including 
bridge, mah-jong, backgammon, and poker, over the 
Internet, where the operator provides the Internet 
venue for competition and receives a fee for such 
service. 
(2) For some Americans, these games provide 
their primary source of income. 
(3) While each of these games contains an ele-
ment of chance, over any substantial interval, a 
player’s success at any of these games is determined 
by that player’s relative level of skill and is widely 
recognized as such. 
(4) Games where success is predominantly de-
termined by the skill of the players involved, as a 
matter of law and of policy, are distinct from the 
games of chance traditionally described and ad-
dressed in Federal and State gambling statutes. 
(5) Despite the fact that the language in sec-
tion 1084 of title 18, United States Code, commonly 
referred to as the ‘‘Wire Act’’, has been interpreted 
by Federal courts as applying only to betting on 
sports, some in law enforcement interpret the section
as prohibiting the acceptance of both sports and 
non-sports betting through a communications device. 
(6) The Federal Government should take appro-
priate steps to ensure that, with respect to skill 
games— 
(A) minors are prevented from playing for 
money; 
(B) persons with compulsive behavior 
should be identified and referred to treatment; 
(C) operators of such games should not be 
vulnerable to, or participate in criminal or ter-
rorist money laundering; and 
(D) appropriate taxes are collected. 
SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION. 
Section 1084 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: (f) 
‘‘(f) As used in this section, the term ‘bets or wagers’ 
does not include operating, or participation in, poker, 
chess, bridge, mahjong or any other game where success 
is predominantly determined by a player’s skill, to the ex-
tent that— 
‘‘(1) the game provides for competition only be-
tween and among participants, and not against the 
person operating the game; and
‘‘(2) the operator is in compliance with regula-
tions issued pursuant to section 5368 of title 31, 
United States Code.’’. 
SEC. 4. SAFEGUARDS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter IV of chapter 53 of 
title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following new section: 
‘‘§ 5368. Games of skill 
‘‘Before the end of the 180-day period beginning on 
the date of the enactment of the Skill Game Protection 
Act, the Secretary shall prescribe regulations requiring 
each person who operates a game of skill on the Internet 
to maintain the following: 
‘‘(1) Appropriate safeguards to ensure that the 
individual participant depositing funds is 18 years of 
age or older. 
‘‘(2) Appropriate safeguards to ensure that the 
individual participant is physically located in a juris-
diction that does not bar participation in the par-
ticular Internet games of skill in which the indi-
vidual participates at the time in the individual par-
ticipates. 
‘‘(3) Appropriate mechanisms to ensure that all 
taxes relating to Internet games of skill due to Fed-
eral and State governments and to Indian tribes
from individual participants are collected as required 
by at the time of any payment of any proceeds of 
Internet games of skill. 
‘‘(4) Appropriate safeguards to combat fraud 
and money laundering as may be prescribed by regu-
lations issued by the Secretary or a designee of the 
Secretary. 
‘‘(5) Appropriate safeguards to combat compul-
sive participation in Internet games of skill. 
‘‘(6) Appropriate safeguards to protect the pri-
vacy and security of any person engaged in Internet 
games of skill.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for subchapter IV of chapter 53 of title 31, United States 
Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 
section 5367 the following new item: 
‘‘5368. Games of skill.’’. 
SEC. 5. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 
(a) NONAPPLICABILITY TO GAMES OF SKILL.—Sec-
tion 5362(1)(E) of title 31, United States Code, is amend-
ed— 
(1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of clause (viii); 
(2) by striking the period at the end of clause 
(ix) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following new 
clause:
‘‘(x) participation in any activity 
which does not constitute ‘‘bets or wagers’’ 
within the meaning of section 1084(f) of 
title 18 and is operated in compliance with 
the regulations issued pursuant to section 
5368.’’. 
(b) NONAPPLICABILITY
TO NON-SPORTS WAGER-
ING.—No provision of this Act, or amendment made by 
this Act to any other provision of law, shall be construed 
as implying that section 1084 of title 18, United States 
Code, applies or applied to non-sports wagering before or 
after the enactment of this Act. 
Æ