Title 15Commerce and TradeRelease 119-73

§1173 Registration of manufacturers and dealers

Title 15 › Chapter CHAPTER 24— - TRANSPORTATION OF GAMBLING DEVICES › § 1173

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

People who make, sell, fix, buy, lease, use, or otherwise deal in gambling machines must register each year with the Attorney General. Registration must be done after November 30 of the previous year and before the date you make, sell, ship, or receive a machine. This applies when your business affects interstate or foreign commerce or when you know the machine will move in interstate or foreign commerce after the effective date of the Gambling Devices Act of 1962. Your yearly registration must give your name and trade names, the addresses of your business locations, the address where you will keep required records, and which of the listed activities you will do that year. Manufacturers must give each machine a unique serial number and permanently mark it with that number, the maker’s name (or trade name), and the date made, if size allows. Anyone who registers must keep monthly records from the later of their registration date or the first day of that year showing machines made, acquired, owned or held, and sold, shipped, or delivered in intrastate, interstate, or foreign commerce. Records must show the marks required above or, for small unmarked machines, a catalog listing, description, and location. Keep these records at the designated place for at least five years. It is illegal to sell, ship, or keep machines that lack the required marks; to remove or change marks; or to knowingly make false record entries. FBI agents may inspect and copy the records at reasonable times, and a federal court can order production if someone refuses.

Full Legal Text

Title 15, §1173

Commerce and Trade — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)It shall be unlawful for any person engaged in the business of manufacturing gambling devices, if the activities of such business in any way affect interstate or foreign commerce, to manufacture any gambling device during any calendar year, unless, after November 30 of the preceding calendar year, and before the date on which such device is manufactured, such person has registered with the Attorney General under this subsection, regardless of whether such device ever enters interstate or foreign commerce.
(2)It shall be unlawful for any person during any calendar year to engage in the business of repairing, reconditioning, buying, selling, leasing, using, or making available for use by others any gambling device, if in such business he sells, ships, or delivers any such device knowing that it will be introduced into interstate or foreign commerce after the effective date of the Gambling Devices Act of 1962, unless, after November 30 of the preceding calendar year, and before the date such sale, shipment, or delivery occurs, such person has registered with the Attorney General under this subsection.
(3)It shall be unlawful for any person during any calendar year to engage in the business of repairing, reconditioning, buying, selling, leasing, using, or making available for use by others any gambling device, if in such business he buys or receives any such device knowing that it has been transported in interstate or foreign commerce after the effective date of the Gambling Devices Act of 1962, unless, after November 30, of the preceding calendar year and before the date on which he buys or receives such device, such person has registered with the Attorney General under this subsection.
(4)Each person who registers with the Attorney General pursuant to this subsection shall set forth in such registration (A) his name and each trade name under which he does business, (B) the address of each of his places of business in any State or possession of the United States, (C) the address of a place, in a State or possession of the United States in which such a place of business is located, where he will keep all rec­ords required to be kept by him by subsection (c) of this section, and (D) each activity described in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of this subsection which he intends to engage in during the calendar year with respect to which such registration is made.
(b)(1)Every manufacturer of a gambling device defined in paragraph (a)(1) or (a)(2) of section 1171 of this title shall number seriatim each such gambling device manufactured by him and permanently affix on each such device, so as to be clearly visible, such number, his name, and, if different, any trade name under which he does business, and the date of manufacture of such device.
(2)Every manufacturer of a gambling device defined in paragraph (a)(3) of section 1171 of this title shall, if the size of such device permits it, number seriatim each such gambling device manufactured by him and permanently affix on each such device, so as to be clearly visible, such number, his name, and, if different, any trade name under which he does business, and the date of manufacture of such device.
(c)(1)Every person required to register under subsection (a) of this section for any calendar year shall, on and after the date of such registration or the first day of such year (whichever last occurs), maintain a record by calendar month for all periods thereafter in such year of—
(A)each gambling device manufactured, purchased, or otherwise acquired by him,
(B)each gambling device owned or possessed by him or in his custody, and
(C)each gambling device sold, delivered, or shipped by him in intrastate, interstate, or foreign commerce.
(2)Such record shall show—
(A)in the case of each such gambling device defined in paragraph (a)(1) or (a)(2) of section 1171 of this title, the information which is required to be affixed on such gambling device by subsection (b)(1) of this section; and
(B)in the case of each such gambling device defined in paragraph (a)(3) of section 1171 of this title, the information required to be affixed on such gambling device by subsection (b)(2) of this section, or, if such gambling device does not have affixed on it any such information, its catalog listing, description, and, in the case of each such device owned or possessed by him or in his custody, its location.
(d)Each record required to be maintained under this section shall be kept by the person required to make it at the place designated by him pursuant to subsection (a)(4)(C) of this section for a period of at least five years from the last day of the calendar month of the year with respect to which such record is required to be maintained.
(e)(1)It shall be unlawful (A) for any person during any period in which he is required to be registered under subsection (a) of this section to sell, deliver, or ship in intrastate, interstate, or foreign commerce or own, possess, or have in his custody any gambling device which is not marked and numbered as required by subsection (b) of this section; or (B) for any person to remove, obliterate, or alter any mark or number on any gambling device required to be placed thereon by such subsection (b).
(2)It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly to make or cause to be made, any false entry in any record required to be kept under this section.
(f)Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall, at any place designated pursuant to subsection (a)(4)(C) of this section by any person required to register by subsection (a) of this section, at all reasonable times, have access to and the right to copy any of the records required to be kept by this section, and, in case of refusal by any person registered under such subsection (a) to allow inspection and copying of such records, the United States district court for the district in which such place is located shall have jurisdiction to issue an order compelling production of such records for inspection or copying.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The

Effective Date

of the Gambling Devices Act of 1962, referred to in subsec. (a)(2), (3), is the

Effective Date

of Pub. L. 87–840, which is the sixtieth day after Oct. 18, 1962. See

Effective Date

of 1962 Amendment note set out under section 1171 of this title.

Amendments

1962—Pub. L. 87–840 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, section read as follows: “Upon first engaging in business, and thereafter on or before the 1st day of July of each year, every manufacturer of and dealer in gambling devices shall register with the Attorney General his name or trade name, the address of his principal place of business, and the addresses of his places of business in such district. On or before the last day of each month every manufacturer of and dealer in gambling devices shall file with the Attorney General an inventory and record of all sales and deliveries of gambling devices as of the close of the preceding calendar month for the place or places of business in the district. The monthly record of sales and deliveries of such gambling devices shall show the mark and number identifying each article together with the name and address of the buyer or consignee thereof and the name and address of the carrier. Duplicate bills or invoices, if complete in the foregoing respects, may be used in filing the record of sales and deliveries. For the purposes of this chapter, every manufacturer or dealer shall mark and number each gambling device, so that it is individually identifiable. In cases of sale, delivery, or shipment of gambling devices in unassembled form, the manufacturer or dealer shall separately mark and number the components of each gambling device with a common mark and number as if it were an assembled gambling device. It shall be unlawful for any manufacturer or dealer to sell, deliver, or ship any gambling device which is not marked and numbered for identification as herein provided; and it shall be unlawful for any manufacturer or dealer to manufacture, recondition, repair, sell, deliver, or ship any gambling device without having registered as required by this section, or without filing monthly the required inventories and records of sales and deliveries.”

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1962 AmendmentAmendment effective on sixtieth day after Oct. 18, 1962, see section 7 of Pub. L. 87–840, set out as a note under section 1171 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

15 U.S.C. § 1173

Title 15Commerce and Trade

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73