Johnson Act (gambling devices): 64 Stat. 1134-1135 (Chapter 1194, Public Law 906), 2 January 1951
"An Act To prohibit transportation of gambling devices in interstate and foreign commerce." It barred knowingly shipping slot machines and similar devices into a State unless that State had exempted itself by law, and required makers and dealers to register with the Attorney General.
- Date
- 1951-01-02
- Kind
- case-file
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-12
- Docket
- 64 Stat. 1134-1135 (81st Cong., 2d Sess., ch. 1194; S. 3357; Public Law 906)
- Rights
- An Act of Congress, a federal work in the public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. The text was read from the Library of Congress's digitised United States Statutes at Large; the page image stored here is the Library of Congress scan of that page.
Chapter 1194 begins on page 1134 of volume 64, with the margin “January 2, 1951 [S. 3357] [Public Law 906] Gambling devices.”, and continues on page 1135. Its title is “An Act To prohibit transportation of gambling devices in interstate and foreign commerce.”
Section 2 reads: “It shall be unlawful knowingly to transport any gambling device to any place in a State, the District of Columbia, or a possession of the United States from any place outside of such State, the District of Columbia, or possession” (64 Stat. 1134, sec. 2), except to a State that has enacted a law exempting itself from the section. A “gambling device” is a slot machine or other drum-or-reel machine, or a coin-operated machine designed to deliver money or property by chance, or an essential part of one. Manufacturers and dealers must register with the Attorney General and mark and number each device. A violation carries a fine of up to $5,000, imprisonment of up to two years, or both, and devices are subject to seizure and forfeiture.
Neither “Johnson Act” nor any other short name is printed on the two pages read. A Justice Department information sheet on the 1962 amendments confirms the identification: “Public Law 87-840, the Gambling Devices Act of 1962, amends the Johnson Act (64 Stat. 1134, 15 U.S.C. 1171-1178)”. The approval date comes from the margin on page 1134; the “Approved” line falls on a page that was not opened. No source read here discusses how any particular State used the exemption.