18 U.S.C. § 224
Section 224 · Bribery in sporting contests
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 30 court decisions — leading case United States v. Indelicato (1989)
Most recently applied in National Collegiate Athletic Ass'n v. Governor of New Jersey (September 2013)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Whoever carries into effect, attempts to carry into effect, or conspires with any other person to carry into effect any scheme in commerce to influence, in any way, by bribery any sporting contest, with knowledge that the purpose of such scheme is to influence by bribery that contest, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
(b) This section shall not be construed as indicating an intent on the part of Congress to occupy the field in which this section operates to the exclusion of a law of any State, territory, Commonwealth, or possession of the United States, and no law of any State, territory, Commonwealth, or possession of the United States, which would be valid in the absence of the section shall be declared invalid, and no local authorities shall be deprived of any jurisdiction over any offense over which they would have jurisdiction in the absence of this section.
(c) As used in this section—
(1) The term “scheme in commerce” means any scheme effectuated in whole or in part through the use in interstate or foreign commerce of any facility for transportation or communication;
(2) The term “sporting contest” means any contest in any sport, between individual contestants or teams of contestants (without regard to the amateur or professional status of the contestants therein), the occurrence of which is publicly announced before its occurrence;
(3) The term “person” means any individual and any partnership, corporation, association, or other entity.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1994—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $10,000”.
Cross References
Wire or oral communications, authorization for interception, to provide evidence of offenses under this section, see section 2516 of this title.