By Moncrief S.B. No. 1222
76R6239 GJH-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to certain gambling by means of a computer or credit card;
1-3 providing penalties.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter I, Chapter 35, Business & Commerce
1-6 Code, is amended by adding Sections 35.104 and 35.105 to read as
1-7 follows:
1-8 Sec. 35.104. RESTRICTED ACCESS TO INTERNET GAMBLING.
1-9 (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), a person who provides an
1-10 interactive computer service to another person for a fee shall
1-11 block access to direct links to network computers or sites that:
1-12 (1) would allow the subscriber of the service to
1-13 violate federal or state laws prohibiting gambling; and
1-14 (2) are regularly used to violate federal or state
1-15 laws prohibiting gambling.
1-16 (b) A person who provides an interactive computer service to
1-17 another person for a fee may allow access to direct links to
1-18 network computers or sites described by Subsection (a) only if:
1-19 (1) the subscriber is at least 18 years of age;
1-20 (2) the service provider has received a signed, mailed
1-21 request for the removal of the access block; and
1-22 (3) the service provider places, on its primary home
1-23 page, a direct link to information that provides a concise warning
1-24 regarding:
2-1 (A) the illegality of gambling on a computer
2-2 network; and
2-3 (B) the addictive behavior associated with
2-4 gambling.
2-5 Sec. 35.105. CIVIL PENALTY. (a) A person is liable to the
2-6 state for a civil penalty of $5,000 for each day on which the
2-7 person provides an interactive computer service for a fee but fails
2-8 to comply with Section 35.104. The aggregate civil penalty may not
2-9 exceed $150,000.
2-10 (b) The attorney general may institute a suit to recover the
2-11 civil penalty. Before filing suit, the attorney general shall give
2-12 the person notice of the person's noncompliance and liability for a
2-13 civil penalty. If the person complies with the requirements of
2-14 Section 35.104 not later than the 30th day after the date of the
2-15 notice, the violation of that section is considered cured, and the
2-16 person is not liable for the civil penalty.
2-17 SECTION 2. Sections 47.01(1) through (6), Penal Code, are
2-18 amended to read as follows:
2-19 (1) "Bet" means an agreement to win or lose something
2-20 of value solely or partially by chance, including an agreement made
2-21 by an electronic transmission from a computer to another computer
2-22 with either the transmitting computer or the receiving computer
2-23 being located in this state. A bet does not include:
2-24 (A) contracts of indemnity or guaranty, or life,
2-25 health, property, or accident insurance;
2-26 (B) an offer of a prize, award, or compensation
2-27 to the actual contestants in a bona fide contest for the
3-1 determination of skill, speed, strength, or endurance or to the
3-2 owners of animals, vehicles, watercraft, or aircraft entered in a
3-3 contest; or
3-4 (C) an offer of merchandise, with a value not
3-5 greater than $25, made by the proprietor of a bona fide carnival
3-6 contest conducted at a carnival sponsored by a nonprofit religious,
3-7 fraternal, school, law enforcement, youth, agricultural, or civic
3-8 group, including any nonprofit agricultural or civic group
3-9 incorporated by the state before 1955, if the person to receive the
3-10 merchandise from the proprietor is the person who performs the
3-11 carnival contest.
3-12 (2) "Bookmaking" means:
3-13 (A) to receive from a person in this state and
3-14 record or to forward to a person in this state more than five bets
3-15 or offers to bet in a period of 24 hours;
3-16 (B) to receive from a person in this state and
3-17 record or to forward to a person in this state bets or offers to
3-18 bet totaling more than $1,000 in a period of 24 hours; or
3-19 (C) a scheme by three or more persons to receive
3-20 from a person in this state, record in this state, or forward to a
3-21 person in this state a bet or an offer to bet.
3-22 (3) "Gambling place" means any real estate, building,
3-23 room, tent, vehicle, boat, computer in a computer network that is
3-24 located in this state or that a person in this state uses to bet,
3-25 or other property whatsoever, one of the uses of which is the
3-26 making or settling of bets, bookmaking, or the conducting of a
3-27 lottery or the playing of gambling devices.
4-1 (4) "Gambling device" means any electronic,
4-2 electromechanical, or mechanical contrivance not excluded under
4-3 Paragraph (B), including a computer in a computer network that is
4-4 located in this state or that a person in this state uses to bet,
4-5 that for a consideration affords the player an opportunity to
4-6 obtain anything of value, the award of which is determined solely
4-7 or partially by chance, even though accompanied by some skill,
4-8 whether or not the prize is automatically paid by the contrivance.
4-9 The term:
4-10 (A) includes, but is not limited to, gambling
4-11 device versions of bingo, keno, blackjack, lottery, roulette, video
4-12 poker, or similar electronic, electromechanical, or mechanical
4-13 games, or facsimiles thereof, that operate by chance or partially
4-14 so, that as a result of the play or operation of the game award
4-15 credits or free games, and that record the number of free games or
4-16 credits so awarded and the cancellation or removal of the free
4-17 games or credits; and
4-18 (B) does not include any electronic,
4-19 electromechanical, or mechanical contrivance designed, made, and
4-20 adapted solely for bona fide amusement purposes if the contrivance
4-21 rewards the player exclusively with noncash merchandise prizes,
4-22 toys, or novelties, or a representation of value redeemable for
4-23 those items, that have a wholesale value available from a single
4-24 play of the game or device of not more than 10 times the amount
4-25 charged to play the game or device once or $5, whichever is less.
4-26 (5) "Altered gambling equipment" means any contrivance
4-27 that is in this state, or a computer in a computer network that a
5-1 person in this state accesses, that has been altered in some
5-2 manner, including, but not limited to, shaved dice, loaded dice,
5-3 magnetic dice, mirror rings, electronic sensors, shaved cards,
5-4 marked cards, and any other equipment altered or designed to
5-5 enhance the actor's chances of winning.
5-6 (6) "Gambling paraphernalia" means any book, computer,
5-7 computer site, instrument, or apparatus by means of which bets have
5-8 been or may be recorded or registered; any record, ticket,
5-9 certificate, bill, slip, token, writing, scratch sheet, electronic
5-10 mail, transmission through a computer network, or other means of
5-11 carrying on bookmaking, wagering pools, lotteries, numbers, policy,
5-12 or similar games.
5-13 SECTION 3. Title 4, Finance Code, is amended by adding
5-14 Subtitle D to read as follows:
5-15 SUBTITLE D. UNENFORCEABILITY OF CERTAIN CREDIT CARD
5-16 TRANSACTIONS
5-17 CHAPTER 381. CREDIT CARD TRANSACTION FOR GAMBLING
5-18 Sec. 381.001. CREDIT CARD TRANSACTION FOR GAMBLING. A
5-19 credit card transaction, as defined by Section 301.001, is
5-20 unenforceable against the obligor if the creditor knew or should
5-21 have known at the time the transaction occurred that the credit
5-22 card transaction was an instrumentality used in the commission of
5-23 an offense under Chapter 47, Penal Code.
5-24 SECTION 4. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999,
5-25 except that a civil penalty for a violation of Section 35.105(a),
5-26 Business & Commerce Code, as added by this Act, may be imposed only
5-27 for a violation that occurs on or after January 1, 2000.
6-1 (b) The changes in law made by this Act to Section 47.01,
6-2 Penal Code, apply only to an offense committed on or after the
6-3 effective date of this Act. For purposes of this section, an
6-4 offense is committed before the effective date of this Act if any
6-5 element of the offense occurs before that date.
6-6 (c) An offense committed before the effective date of this
6-7 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
6-8 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
6-9 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
6-10 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-11 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-12 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-13 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.