Chapter 193 Oregon Laws 1999
Session Law
AN ACT
SB 1217
Relating to gambling;
creating new provisions; amending ORS 167.117; and declaring an emergency.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1.
ORS 167.117 is amended to read:
167.117. As used in ORS 167.117 to 167.164 and 464.270 to
464.530, unless the context requires otherwise:
(1) "Bingo or lotto" means a game, played with cards
bearing lines of numbers, in which a player covers or uncovers a number
selected from a container, and which is won by a player who is present during
the game and who first covers or uncovers the selected numbers in a designated
combination, sequence or pattern.
(2) "Bookmaker" means a person who unlawfully accepts
a bet from a member of the public upon the outcome of a future contingent event
and who charges or accepts a percentage, fee or vigorish on the wager.
(3) "Bookmaking" means promoting gambling by
unlawfully accepting bets from members of the public as a business, rather than
in a casual or personal fashion, upon the outcomes of future contingent events.
(4) "Casino game" means any of the traditional
gambling-based games commonly known as dice, faro, monte, roulette, fan-tan,
twenty-one, blackjack, Texas hold-'em, seven-and-a-half, big injun, klondike,
craps, poker, chuck-a-luck, Chinese chuck-a-luck (dai shu), wheel of fortune,
chemin de fer, baccarat, pai gow, beat the banker, panquinqui, red dog,
acey-deucey, or any other gambling-based game similar in form or content.
(5)(a) "Charitable, fraternal or religious
organization" means any person that is:
(A) Organized and existing for charitable, benevolent,
eleemosynary, humane, patriotic, religious, philanthropic, recreational,
social, educational, civic, fraternal or other nonprofit purposes; and
(B) Exempt from payment of federal income taxes because of its
charitable, fraternal or religious purposes.
(b) The fact that contributions to an organization profiting
from a contest of chance do not qualify for a charitable deduction for tax
purposes or that the organization is not otherwise exempt from payment of
federal income taxes pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended,
constitutes prima facie evidence that the organization is not a bona fide
charitable, fraternal or religious organization.
(6) "Contest of chance" means any contest, game,
gaming scheme or gaming device in which the outcome depends in a material
degree upon an element of chance, notwithstanding that skill of the contestants
may also be a factor therein.
(7) "Gambling" means that a person stakes or risks
something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance or a future
contingent event not under the control or influence of the person, upon an
agreement or understanding that the person or someone else will receive
something of value in the event of a certain outcome. "Gambling" does
not include:
(a) Bona fide business transactions valid under the law of
contracts for the purchase or sale at a future date of securities or
commodities, and agreements to compensate for loss caused by the happening of
chance, including but not limited to contracts of indemnity or guaranty and
life, health or accident insurance.
(b) Engaging in contests of chance under the following
conditions:
(A) The contest is played for some token other than money;
(B) An individual contestant may not purchase more than $100
worth of tokens for use in the contest during any 24-hour period;
(C) The tokens may be exchanged only for property other than
money;
(D) Except when the tokens are exchanged for a beverage or
merchandise to be consumed on the premises, the tokens are not redeemable on
the premises where the contest is conducted or within 50 miles thereof; and
(E) Except for charitable, fraternal or religious
organizations, no person who conducts the contest as owner, agent or employee
profits in any manner from operation of the contest.
(c) Social games.
(d) Bingo, lotto or raffle games or Monte Carlo events operated
in compliance with ORS 167.118, by a charitable, fraternal or religious
organization licensed pursuant to ORS 167.118, 464.250 to 464.380 and 464.420
to 464.530 to operate such games.
(8) "Gambling device" means any device, machine,
paraphernalia or equipment that is used or usable in the playing phases of
unlawful gambling, whether it consists of gambling between persons or gambling
by a person involving the playing of a machine. Lottery tickets, policy slips
and other items used in the playing phases of lottery and policy schemes are
not gambling devices within this definition. Amusement devices other than gray
machines, that do not return to the operator or player thereof anything but
free additional games or plays, shall not be considered to be gambling devices.
(9)(a) "Gray machine" means any electrical or electro-mechanical
device, whether or not it is in working order or some act of manipulation,
repair, adjustment or modification is required to render it operational, that:
(A) Awards credits or contains or is readily adaptable to
contain, a circuit, meter or switch capable of removing or recording the
removal of credits earned by a player, other than removal during the course of
continuous play; or
(B) Plays, emulates or simulates a casino game, bingo or keno.
(b) A device is no less a gray machine because, apart from its
use or adaptability as such, it may also sell or deliver something of value on
the basis other than chance.
(c) "Gray machine" does not include:
(A) Any device commonly known as a personal computer, including
any device designed and marketed solely for home entertainment, when used
privately and not for a fee and not used to facilitate any form of gambling;
(B) Any device operated under the authority of the Oregon State
Lottery;
(C) Any device manufactured or serviced but not operated in Oregon
by a manufacturer who has been approved under rules adopted by the Oregon State
Lottery Commission; [or]
(D) A slot machine; or
(E) Any device authorized by
the Oregon State Lottery Commission for:
(i) Display and
demonstration purposes only at trade shows; or
(ii) Training and testing
purposes by the Department of State Police.
(10) "Handle" means the total amount of money and
other things of value bet on the bingo, lotto or raffle games, the value of
raffle chances sold or the total amount collected from the sale of imitation
money during Monte Carlo events.
(11) "Lottery" or "policy" means an
unlawful gambling scheme in which:
(a) The players pay or agree to pay something of value for
chances, represented and differentiated by numbers or by combinations of
numbers or by some other medium, one or more of which chances are to be
designated the winning ones; and
(b) The winning chances are to be determined by a drawing or by
some other method; and
(c) The holders of the winning chances are to receive something
of value.
(12) "Monte Carlo event" means a gambling event at
which wagers are placed with imitation money upon contests of chance in which
players compete against the house. As used in this subsection, "imitation
money" includes imitation currency, chips or tokens.
(13) "Numbers scheme or enterprise" means a form of
lottery in which the winning chances or plays are not determined upon the basis
of a drawing or other act on the part of persons conducting or connected with
the scheme, but upon the basis of the outcome of a future contingent event
otherwise unrelated to the particular scheme.
(14) "Operating expenses" means those expenses
incurred in the operation of a bingo, lotto or raffle game and related
concessions, including only the following:
(a) Salaries, employee benefits, workers' compensation coverage
and state and federal employee taxes;
(b) Security services;
(c) Legal and accounting services;
(d) Supplies and inventory;
(e) Rent, repairs, utilities, water, sewer and garbage;
(f) Insurance;
(g) Equipment;
(h) Printing and promotions;
(i) Postage and shipping;
(j) Janitorial services and supplies; and
(k) Leasehold improvements.
(15) "Player" means a person who engages in any form
of gambling solely as a contestant or bettor, without receiving or becoming
entitled to receive any profit therefrom other than personal gambling winnings,
and without otherwise rendering any material assistance to the establishment,
conduct or operation of the particular gambling activity. A person who gambles
at a social game of chance on equal terms with the other participants therein
is a person who does not otherwise render material assistance to the
establishment, conduct or operation thereof by performing, without fee or
remuneration, acts directed toward the arrangement or facilitation of the game,
such as inviting persons to play, permitting the use of premises therefor and
supplying cards or other equipment used therein. A person who engages in
bookmaking is not a player.
(16) "Profits from unlawful gambling" means that a
person, acting other than solely as a player, accepts or receives money or
other property pursuant to an agreement or understanding with another person
whereby the person participates or is to participate in the proceeds of
unlawful gambling.
(17) "Promotes unlawful gambling" means that a
person, acting other than solely as a player, engages in conduct that
materially aids any form of unlawful gambling. Conduct of this nature includes,
but is not limited to, conduct directed toward the creation or establishment of
the particular game, contest, scheme, device or activity involved, toward the
acquisition or maintenance of premises, paraphernalia, equipment or apparatus
therefor, toward the solicitation or inducement of persons to participate
therein, toward the conduct of the playing phases thereof, toward the
arrangement of any of its financial or recording phases or toward any other
phase of its operation. A person promotes unlawful gambling if, having control
or right of control over premises being used with the knowledge of the person
for purposes of unlawful gambling, the person permits the unlawful gambling to
occur or continue or makes no effort to prevent its occurrence or continuation.
(18) "Raffle" means a lottery operated by a
charitable, fraternal or religious organization wherein the players pay
something of value for chances, represented by numbers or combinations thereof
or by some other medium, one or more of which chances are to be designated the
winning ones or determined by a drawing and the player holding the winning
chance is to receive something of value.
(19)(a) "Slot
machine" means a gambling device that as a result of the insertion of a
coin or other object operates, either completely automatically, or with the aid
of some physical act by the player, in such a manner that, depending upon
elements of chance, it may eject something of value or otherwise entitle the
player to something of value. A device so constructed or readily adaptable or
convertible to such use is no less a slot machine because it is not in working
order or because some mechanical act of manipulation or repair is required to
accomplish its adaptation, conversion or workability. Nor is it any less a slot
machine because apart from its use or adaptability as such it may also sell or
deliver something of value on the basis other than chance.
(b) "Slot
machine" does not include any device authorized by the Oregon State
Lottery Commission for:
(A) Display and
demonstration purposes only at trade shows; or
(B) Training and testing
purposes by the Department of State Police.
(20) "Social game" means:
(a) A game, other than a lottery, between players in a private
home where no house player, house bank or house odds exist and there is no
house income from the operation of the social game; and
(b) If authorized pursuant to ORS 167.121, a game, other than a
lottery, between players in a private business, private club or place of public
accommodation where no house player, house bank or house odds exist and there
is no house income from the operation of the social game.
(21) "Something of value" means any money or
property, any token, object or article exchangeable for money or property, or
any form of credit or promise directly or indirectly contemplating transfer of
money or property or of any interest therein.
(22) "Trade
show" means an exhibit of products and services that is:
(a) Not open to the public;
and
(b) Of limited duration.
[(22)] (23) "Unlawful" means not
specifically authorized by law.
SECTION 2. (1) The Oregon State Lottery Commission
shall adopt rules to carry out the provisions of ORS 167.117 (9)(c)(E) and
(19)(b).
(2) Devices authorized by
the Oregon State Lottery Commission for the purposes described in ORS 167.117
(9)(c)(E) and (19)(b) are exempted from the provisions of 15 U.S.C. 1172.
SECTION 3. This 1999 Act being necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is
declared to exist, and this 1999 Act takes effect on its passage.
Approved by the Governor May
18, 1999
Filed in the office of
Secretary of State May 18, 1999
Effective date May 18, 1999
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