Louisiana

13 October 2006, President signs H.R. 4954: Security and Accountability For Every Port Act ("SAFE Port Act"), which SAFE Port Act incorporated Title VIII--Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. Title VIII added in conference committee. Earlier, the House passed the SAFE Port Act: ayes-421, nays-2 and not voting-9 and the Senate passed the SAFE Port Act: ayes-98, nays-0 and not voting-2.

29 September 2006, a judge cleared a former British betting-company executive to return to London after New York Governor George Pataki declined to sign a warrant extraditing him to Louisiana, where he was charged with illegal online gambling. Offshore Internet gambling, however, is not a crime in New York, and Governor Pataki said the state law only permitted extradition if the accused person was physically present in the place where he is accused of breaking the law.

Gaming in Louisiana

Gambling is a big business in the State of Louisiana, generating billions in revenues in commercial casinos, legal tribal casinos, race track casinos, race tracks video lottery terminals and the state lottery. Apparently, capricious attitudes toward gambling are as prevalent in Louisiana, as they are elsewhere. According to the American Gaming Association’s 2006 State of the States: The AGA Survey of Casino Entertainment, Louisiana as of December 2005 was the home to 18 commercial casinos (14 riverboats, one (1) land-based and three (3) racetrack casinos), three (3) tribal casinos, four horse racing tracks and an astounding 2,414 video lottery terminals (more than any other state). Gross commercial casino gaming revenues of $2.2 billion resulted in $0.5 billion in tax revenues. The lottery generated $332 million in revenues in the lottery’s fiscal year ended June 30, 2006, with six lottery games—including the multi-state Powerball, and contributed $119 million to the state treasury.

Criminal Code: Louisiana

Louisiana's Title 14 criminalizes as a felony the business of gambling over the Internet. Gambling is the intentional conducting, or directly assisting in the conducting, as a business, of any game, contest, lottery, or contrivance whereby a person risks the loss of anything of value in order to realize a profit. The citizen gambler commits a Class B misdemeanor with his on-line gambling.

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Text of Louisiana Gambling law. Click on following logo:

Synopsis of the Law

The law criminalizes internet gambling. "Gambling by computer is the intentional conducting, or directing assisting in the conducting as a business of any a game, contest, lottery, or contrivance whereby a person risks the loss if anything of value in order to realize a profit when accessing the Internet, World Wide Web, or any part thereof by way of any computer, computer system, computer network, computer software, or any server. Gambling by computer is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $25,000 fine.