Budget Amendment ID: FY2019-S4-54-R1

Redraft OTH 54

Prevent Child Video Game Gambling

Messrs. Tarr, Moore, O'Connor and Fattman moved that the proposed new text be amended in section 2, Section _. Notwithstanding any special or general law to the contrary, it shall be unlawful for any retailer to sell to any person less than eighteen years of age a video game that contains a system of further purchasing that includes:

(1)A randomized reward or rewards; or

(2)A consumable virtual item that can be redeemed to directly or indirectly converted to receive a randomized reward or rewards.

For purposes of this section, a "randomized reward" means a reward in a video game that is based on a variable ratio schedule, wherein a player receives a reward after a random number of actions. "Retailer" means any person who offers video games for sale, including resale by the purchaser, through any means, including sales outlets, catalogs, or the Internet. "Video game" means an object or device that stores recorded data or instructions, receives data or instructions generated by a person who uses it, and, by processing the data or instructions, creates an interactive game capable of being played, viewed, or experienced on or through a computer, gaming system, console, or other technology.

Section _. Notwithstanding any special or general law to the contrary, video game publishers that distribute video games that contain a system of further purchasing containing a randomized reward or rewards, or a consumable virtual item that can be redeemed and directly or indirectly converted to a randomized reward or rewards, shall prominently disclose and publish to the consumer the probability rates of receiving each type of randomized reward or rewards at the time of purchase and at the time any mechanism to receive a randomized reward or rewards is activated so as to meaningfully inform the consumer's decision prior to the purchase or activation of any mechanism to receive a randomized reward or rewards.

Each video game subject to this section shall bear a prominent, easily legible label on its packaging warning of these systems of further purchasing of randomized rewards. If purchased digitally and downloaded through the Internet or an online application, prominently disclose to the consumer at the time of consumer purchase a visible and easily legible label containing such a warning.

No video game publisher shall at any time modify a game to contain or otherwise permit the inclusion of additional content for which the game was not appropriately labeled at the time of original sale.