One of the primary accomplishments of the Kefauver Committee’s investigations of organized crime was the passage of the Gambling Devices Act of 1951, also known as the Johnson Act (Public Law 81–906, passed 2 January 1951) (see The Kefauver Committee). The act prohibited the transportation of slot machines across state lines, except where they could legally be used in the state of destination.
No slot machines were permitted on federal enclaves such as domestic military bases, national parks and forests, and Indian reservations. The machines were also prohibited for use in waters under the maritime jurisdiction of the United States, unless they were on vessels authorized for legalized gambling by state governments. As U.S. flag ships were prohibited from having gaming operations on international waters by 1949 legislation, the Johnson Act made the transportation of machines to these ships also an illegal act.
Under provisions of the act, every manufacturer of machines had to register with the U.S. attorney general. All machines had to be especially marked and numbered for identification. Records of all sales and distributions of machines had to be filed with the attorney general each year.
The Johnson Act of 1951 gave a specific definition to “gambling devices”. They were mechanical devices “an essential part of which is a drum or reel… which when operated may deliver, as the result of the application of an element of chance, any money or property”. They also included other machines activated by coins for purposes of gambling. The act applied to parts of these machines as well.
In 1962, the Gambling Devices Act was amended to include gambling machines other than traditional slot machines (such as video games, digger or crane machines, quarter drop machines, and pinball machines that allow free replays) and also devices for gambling such as roulette wheels and wheels of fortune. The act did not apply to nonmechanical devices such as paper products for bingo games. Pari-mutuel equipment was also exempt, as were certain games designed especially for carnivals.
Subsequent legislation such as the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 and the Cruise Ship Competitiveness Act of 1992 added further exemptions to the act.
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