Proposed Massachusetts legislation would potentially criminalize online wagering
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Legislation recently submitted to the Massachusetts House and Senate by Governor Deval L Patrick would, if passed, potentially criminalize the act of placing a wager online.
The core goal of the legislation is not to regulate online wagering. The bill, entitled “An Act Establishing and Regulating Resort Casinos in the Commonwealth,†is focused primarily on the creation of resort casinos in Massachusetts. However, as is often the case when live casino legislation is drafted, the bill proposes tightening of regulations on all forms of wagering.
The paragraph in question, from the full text of the bill located at the State of Massachusetts website:
(i) Placing, sending, transmitting, relaying wagers to another person prohibited under certain circumstances; penalties.
Any person who knowingly transmits or receives a wager of any type by any telecommunication device, including telephone, cellular phone, Internet, local area network, including wireless local networks, or any other similar device or equipment or other medium of communication, or knowingly installs or maintains said device or equipment for the transmission or receipt of wagering information shall be punished by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than 2 years, or a fine of not more than $25,000, or both.This section shall apply to any person who, from within this commonwealth, transmits a wager to, or receives a wager from, another person or gaming establishment within or outside of this commonwealth and any person who, from outside this commonwealth, transmits a wager to, or receives a wager from, another person or gaming establishment within this commonwealth.
This section shall not apply to the use of a local area network as a means to place authorized wagers in a licensed gaming establishment, or use of said devices or equipment by the authority in it duties in regulating, enforcing, or auditing a licensed gaming operator.
If you’d like to voice your opinion on this matter, suggestions for action are offered in a 2+2 thread located here.
