# H. Rept. 81-3111, Transportation of Gambling Devices: conference report on S. 3357 (19 September 1950)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/govinfo-h-rept-81-3111-gambling-devices-1950/

The House-Senate conference report on the bill that became the Johnson Act of 2 January 1951: the Senate accepted all eight House amendments, among them a narrower definition of "gambling device" and a way for a State to exempt itself.

House Report No. 3111, 81st Congress, 2d Session, "Transportation of Gambling Devices," was ordered printed on September 19, 1950. Representative Dwight L. Rogers of Florida submitted it for the conference committee on S. 3357, a bill "to prohibit transportation of gambling devices in interstate and foreign commerce." The managers for the Senate included Ed C. Johnson and Ernest McFarland.

The statement of the House managers explains the eight House amendments that the Senate accepted. The first substituted "a new and more restrictive definition of 'gambling device'" and a new section 2 "which permitted any State" to exempt itself from the ban on shipment into it. Others made the Attorney General, in place of the Collector of Internal Revenue, the official with whom makers and dealers must register; replaced the Territories with the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States; and made the penalties uniform. "The House conferees rejected two amendments proposed by the Senate conferees," one on federal enclaves and one on shipping machines out of an exempt State for repairs, as "incompatible with the objectives of this legislation."

The bill was enacted as the [Johnson Act, 64 Stat. 1134](/items/statutes-at-large-64-stat-1134-johnson-act/), filed in the Laws section. Its companion on racing information, S. 3358, did not pass in 1950; the [Wire Act](/items/statutes-at-large-75-stat-491-wire-act/) followed in 1961.

## Sources

- GovInfo, United States Congressional Serial Set: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/SERIALSET-11384_00_00-220-3111-0000/pdf/SERIALSET-11384_00_00-220-3111-0000.pdf