Texas Bill (S.B. No. 1222)

Bill: SB 1222

Legislative Session: 76(R)
Council Document: 76R 06239

INTRODUCED 03/11/1999 S Referred to s/c on Tech & Business by Pres.
Relating to certain gambling by means of a computer or credit card; providing penalties.

Author:Moncrief
Coauthor:
Sponsor:
Cosponsor:

Subjects:
I0034 Amusements, Games, Sports
S0130 INTERNET
S0388 CREDIT CARDS
S1232 GAMBLING
S2425 COMPUTERS & SOFTWARE

Remarks:

Senate Committee: Subcommittee on Technology & Business Growth

Status: In

In Bill Subcommittee:

House Committee:

Senate Conferees:

House Conferees:

Actions:

Text:

By Moncrief
S.B. No. 1222
76R6239 GJH-F

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT

relating to certain gambling by means of a computer or credit card; providing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter I, Chapter 35, Business & Commerce Code, is amended by adding Sections 35.104 and 35.105 to read as follows:

Sec. 35.104. RESTRICTED ACCESS TO INTERNET GAMBLING.

(a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), a person who provides an interactive computer service to another person for a fee shall block access to direct links to network computers or sites that:

(1)would allow the subscriber of the service to violate federal or state laws prohibiting gambling; and
(2) are regularly used to violate federal or state laws prohibiting gambling.

(b) The attorney general may institute a suit to recover the civil penalty. Before filing suit, the attorney general shall give the person notice of the person's noncompliance and liability for a civil penalty. If the person complies with the requirements of Section 35.104 not later than the 30th day after the date of the notice, the violation of that section is considered cured, and the person is not liable for the civil penalty.

SECTION 2. Sections 47.01(1) through (6), Penal Code, are amended to read as follows:

(1) "Bet" means an agreement to win or lose something of value solely or partially by chance, including an agreement made by an electronic transmission from a computer to another computer with either the transmitting computer or the receiving computer being located in this state. A bet does not include:
(A) contracts of indemnity or guaranty, or life, health, property, or accident insurance;
(B)an offer of a prize, award, or compensation to the actual contestants in a bona fide contest for the determination of skill, speed, strength, or endurance or to the owners of animals, vehicles, watercraft, or aircraft entered in a contest; or
(C) an offer of merchandise, with a value not greater than $25, made by the proprietor of a bona fide carnival contest conducted at a carnival sponsored by a nonprofit religious, fraternal, school, law enforcement, youth, agricultural, or civic group, including any nonprofit agricultural or civic group incorporated by the state before 1955, if the person to receive the merchandise from the proprietor is the person who performs the carnival contest.
(2) "Bookmaking" means:
(A) to receive from a person in this state and record or to forward to a person in this state more than five bets or offers to bet in a period of 24 hours;
(B) to receive from a person in this state and record or to forward to a person in this state bets or offers to bet totaling more than $1,000 in a period of 24 hours; or
(C) a scheme by three or more persons to receive from a person in this state, record in this state, or forward to a person in this state a bet or an offer to bet.
(3) "Gambling place" means any real estate, building, room, tent, vehicle, boat, computer in a computer network that is located in this state or that a person in this state uses to bet, or other property whatsoever, one of the uses of which is the making or settling of bets, bookmaking, or the conducting of a lottery or the playing of gambling devices.
(4) "Gambling device" means any electronic, electromechanical, or mechanical contrivance not excluded under Paragraph (B), including a computer in a computer network that is located in this state or that a person in this state uses to bet, that for a consideration affords the player an opportunity to obtain anything of value, the award of which is determined solely or partially by chance, even though accompanied by some skill, whether or not the prize is automatically paid by the contrivance.
The term:
(A) includes, but is not limited to, gambling device versions of bingo, keno, blackjack, lottery, roulette, video poker, or similar electronic, electromechanical, or mechanical games, or facsimiles thereof, that operate by chance or partially so, that as a result of the play or operation of the game award credits or free games, and that record the number of free games or credits so awarded and the cancellation or removal of the free games or credits; and
(B)does not include any electronic, electromechanical, or mechanical contrivance designed, made, and adapted solely for bona fide amusement purposes if the contrivance rewards the player exclusively with noncash merchandise prizes, toys, or novelties, or a representation of value redeemable for those items, that have a wholesale value available from a single play of the game or device of not more than 10 times the amount charged to play the game or device once or $5, whichever is less.
(5) "Altered gambling equipment" means any contrivance that is in this state, or a computer in a computer network that a person in this state accesses, that has been altered in some manner, including, but not limited to, shaved dice, loaded dice, 5-3 magnetic dice, mirror rings, electronic sensors, shaved cards, marked cards, and any other equipment altered or designed to enhance the actor's chances of winning.
(6) "Gambling paraphernalia" means any book, computer, computer site, instrument, or apparatus by means of which bets have been or may be recorded or registered; any record, ticket, certificate, bill, slip, token, writing, scratch sheet, electronic mail, transmission through a computer network, or other means of carrying on bookmaking, wagering pools, lotteries, numbers, policy, or similar games.

SECTION 3. Title 4, Finance Code, is amended by adding Subtitle D to read as follows:

SUBTITLE D. UNENFORCEABILITY OF CERTAIN CREDIT CARD TRANSACTIONS
CHAPTER 381. CREDIT CARD TRANSACTION FOR GAMBLING
Sec. 381.001. CREDIT CARD TRANSACTION FOR GAMBLING. A credit card transaction, as defined by Section 301.001, is unenforceable against the obligor if the creditor knew or should have known at the time the transaction occurred that the credit card transaction was an instrumentality used in the commission of an offense under Chapter 47, Penal Code.

SECTION 4. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, except that a civil penalty for a violation of Section 35.105(a), Business & Commerce Code, as added by this Act, may be imposed only for a violation that occurs on or after January 1, 2000.
(b) The changes in law made by this Act to Section 47.01, Penal Code, apply only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs before that date.
(c) An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.