[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6663 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6663

     To amend title 31, United States Code, to provide additional 
    clarification with regard to the implementation of the Unlawful 
   Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 30, 2008

Mr. Sessions (for himself, Mr. Berry, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, and Mr. 
  Delahunt) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on 
   the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend title 31, United States Code, to provide additional 
    clarification with regard to the implementation of the Unlawful 
   Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Unlawful Internet Gambling 
Enforcement Clarification and Implementation Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Prior to the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling 
        Enforcement Act of 2006 (hereafter in this section referred to 
        as the ``UIGEA''), Public Law 109-347, on October 13, 2006, 
        Federal law was both vague and outdated regarding Internet 
        gambling activities, as Federal criminal gambling statutes were 
        passed decades before the commercial use of the Internet.
            (2) To date, all Federal Internet gambling prosecutions 
        have involved sports betting, creating a lack of authoritative 
        court decisions on the applicability of other federal criminal 
        statutes to Internet poker and casino-style gambling.
            (3) Sports betting, which is illegal in 49 of the 50 
        States, is viewed as particularly harmful because its potential 
        adverse impact on the integrity of professional and amateur 
        sports, and is the one form of gambling where there is settled 
        Federal case law clarifying it as illegal on the Internet.
            (4) Many European Internet gambling companies offering 
        services not including sports betting to persons in the United 
        States were fully listed on the London Stock Exchange, and 
        thereby subject to high standards of transparency and scrutiny, 
        but upon receiving clarification of United States law regarding 
        Internet gaming through the enactment of the UIGEA, these 
        companies closed their sites to persons in the United States.
            (5) Continued legal jeopardy for companies that made a good 
        faith effort to comply voluntarily with clarified United States 
        law following the passage of the UIGEA punishes behavior that 
        the law intended to foster and inadvertently rewards continued 
        noncompliance by other foreign entities.
            (6) In light of the foregoing and in deference to long-
        standing constitutional requirements of fair notice and 
        transparency in the criminal law, the Congress finds it 
        necessary to clarify that criminal statutes applicable to 
        gambling do not apply to any person who offered Internet 
        gambling services that did not include sports betting prior to 
        October 13, 2006, and who ceased offering Internet gambling 
        services to persons in the United States upon passage of the 
        UIGEA.
            (7) To effect the purposes and intent of the UIGEA, it is 
        the sense of the Congress that the Attorney General should 
        focus any prosecutorial efforts on those persons who--
                    (A) offer Internet sports betting in the United 
                States; or
                    (B) process payments for illegal Internet sports 
                betting in the United States.

SEC. 3. UIGEA CLARIFICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION.

    (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:
``Sec. 5368. Voluntary compliance
    ``(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law--
            ``(1) except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3), no 
        person shall be subject to criminal liability arising out of--
                    ``(A) the offering, receipt or facilitation of bets 
                or wagers by means of the Internet;
                    ``(B) financial transactions in connection with or 
                involving the consideration for, or proceeds of, bets 
                or wagers by means of the Internet;
                    ``(C) the administration, advising, audit, 
                direction, operation, lending, management, marketing or 
                supplying of a business or services involving 
                activities or transactions referred to in subparagraph 
                (A) or (B); or
                    ``(D) the banking, brokerage, custody, issuance, 
                placement, promotion, sale or transfer of shares or 
                proceeds from a business involving activities or 
                transactions referred to in subparagraph (A), (B), or 
                (C);
            ``(2) paragraph (1) shall not apply to any person who 
        knowingly--
                    ``(A) offered illegal bets or wagers to, or 
                received bets or wagers from, any person within the 
                United States by means of the Internet after October 
                13, 2006;
                    ``(B) in violation of section 1084 of title 18, 
                United States Code, used the Internet for the 
                transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of bets 
                or wagers on any sporting event or sporting contest, or 
                information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers 
                on any sporting event or contest, by any person within 
                the United States; or
                    ``(C) processed or facilitated financial 
                transactions in connection with or involving the 
                consideration for, or proceeds of, involving activities 
                or transactions referred to in subparagraph (A) or (B); 
                and
            ``(3) paragraph (1) shall not apply to conduct that 
        violated sections 1956 or 1957 of title 18, United States Code, 
        by a financial or monetary transaction, or the transfer or 
        transportation of funds, with the intent to promote unlawful 
        activity other than the offering, receipt, or facilitation of 
        bets or wagers by means of the Internet, or to conceal or 
        disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, or control of 
        the proceeds of unlawful activity other than the offering, 
        receipt, or facilitation of bets or wagers by means of the 
        Internet.
    ``(b) Criminal Liability Defined.--For purposes of subsection (a), 
the term `criminal liability' includes actions against real or personal 
property that arise from or depend upon the allegedly criminal nature 
of the bet or wager or of the transmission or receipt of funds in 
connection with that bet or wager.''.
    (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. Voluntary compliance.''.

SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    No provision of this Act, or any amendment made by this Act, shall 
be construed as clarifying or implying that Internet bets or wagers, 
other than sports bets or wagers, which were accepted subsequent to 
October 13, 2006, are in violation of Federal law.
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