I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4777 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to expand and modernize the 
prohibition against interstate gambling, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 16, 2006 
Mr. GOODLATTE (for himself, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. WOLF, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. 
PITTS, Mr. PENCE, Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. AKIN, Mr. ALEX-
ANDER, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. BAKER, Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina, Mr. 
BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. BASS, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. BONNER, Mr. 
BOOZMAN, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. 
BUYER, Mr. CANTOR, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. COBLE, Mr. 
CONAWAY, Mr. CRENSHAW, Mr. CULBERSON, Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Vir-
ginia, Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Mr. DEFAZIO, 
Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mrs. DRAKE, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. 
EHLERS, 
Mrs. 
EMERSON, 
Mr. 
EVERETT, 
Mr. 
FORBES, 
Mr. 
FORTENBERRY, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. FORTUN˜O, Mr. FRELING-
HUYSEN, Ms. FOXX, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr. GILCHREST, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. 
GINGREY, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. GOODE, Mr. GUTKNECHT, Ms. HART, Mr. 
HAYES, Mr. HEFLEY, Mr. HERGER, Mr. HOBSON, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. 
HOSTETTLER, Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina, Mr. ISTOOK, Mr. JENKINS, 
Mr. JINDAL, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr. JONES of North Caro-
lina, Mr. KELLER, Mrs. KELLY, Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota, Mr. KING 
of Iowa, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. KUHL of New York, Mr. LEWIS of Cali-
fornia, Mr. LINDER, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California, 
Mr. MCCRERY, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. MORAN of 
Kansas, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mrs. MUSGRAVE, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. 
NEUGEBAUER, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. NUSSLE, Mr. OSBORNE, Mr. PETER-
SON of Minnesota, Mr. POE, Mr. PUTNAM, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mr. REGULA, 
Mr. REHBERG, Mr. REYNOLDS, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. ROGERS 
of Michigan, Mr. SCHWARZ of Michigan, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. SHUSTER, 
Mr. SIMMONS, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. SODREL, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. SUL-
LIVAN, Mr. TERRY, Mr. THOMAS, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. WALDEN of Oregon, 
Mr. WALSH, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. WESTMORELAND, Mr. WICK-
ER, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico, Mr. 
BRADY of Texas, Mr. DELAY, and Mr. LAHOOD) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to expand and mod-
ernize the prohibition against interstate gambling, 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 may be cited as the ‘‘Internet Gambling 
Prohibition Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
Section 1081 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) by designating the five undesignated para-
graphs that begin with ‘‘The term’’ as paragraphs 
(1) through (5), respectively; 
(2) in paragraph (5), as so designated— 
(A) by striking ‘‘wire communication’’ and 
inserting ‘‘communication’’; 
(B) by inserting ‘‘satellite, microwave,’’ 
after ‘‘cable,’’; and 
(C) by inserting ‘‘(whether fixed or mo-
bile)’’ after ‘‘connection’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(6) The term ‘bets or wagers’—
‘‘(A) means the staking or risking by any 
person of something of value upon the outcome 
of a contest of others, a sporting event, or a 
game predominantly subject to chance, upon an 
agreement or understanding that the person or 
another person will receive something of greater 
value than the amount staked or risked in the 
event of a certain outcome; 
‘‘(B) includes the purchase of a chance or 
opportunity to win a lottery or other prize 
(which opportunity to win is predominantly sub-
ject to chance); and 
‘‘(C) does not include— 
‘‘(i) a bona fide business transaction 
governed by the securities laws (as that 
term is defined in section 3(a)(47) of the 
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 
U.S.C. 78c(a)(47))) for the purchase or 
sale at a future date of securities (as that 
term is defined in section 3(a)(10) of the 
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 
U.S.C. 78c(a)(10))); 
‘‘(ii) a transaction on or subject to the 
rules of a contract market designated pur-
suant to section 5 of the Commodity Ex-
change Act (7 U.S.C. 7) or to any trans-
action subject to an exemption pursuant to 
section 4(c) of such Act; 
‘‘(iii) any over-the-counter derivative 
instrument; 
‘‘(iv) a contract of indemnity or guar-
antee; 
‘‘(v) a contract for life, health, or ac-
cident insurance; 
‘‘(vi) participation in any game or 
contest in which participants do not stake 
or risk anything of value other than— 
‘‘(I) personal efforts of the par-
ticipants in playing the game or con-
test or obtaining access to the Inter-
net; or 
‘‘(II) point or credits that the 
sponsor of the game or contest pro-
vides to participants free of charge 
and that can be used or redeemed 
only for participation in games or con-
tests offered by the sponsor; or 
‘‘(vii) participation in any simulation 
sports game or educational game or con-
test in which (if the game or contest in-
volves a team or teams) all teams are fic-
tional and no team is a member of an 
amateur or professional sports organiza-
tion (as those terms are defined in section 
3701 of title 28) and that meets the fol-
lowing conditions: 
‘‘(I) All prizes and awards of-
fered to winning participants are es-
tablished and made known to the par-
ticipants in advance of the game or 
contest and their value is not deter-
mined by the number of participants 
or the amount of any fees paid by 
those participants. 
‘‘(II) All winning outcomes re-
flect the relative knowledge and skill 
of the participants and are determined 
predominantly by accumulated statis-
tical results of the performance of in-
dividuals (athletes in the case of 
sports events) in multiple real-world 
sporting or other events. 
‘‘(III) No winning outcome is 
based—