§ 21-986 — Installing communication facilities for gamblers.

A. Installing communication facilities for gamblers is: 1. Installing communications facilities in a place which the person who installs the facilities knows is a gambling place; 2. Installing communications facilities knowing that they will be used principally for the purpose of transmitting information to be used in making or settling bets; or 3. Knowing that communications facilities are being used principally for the purpose of transmitting information to be used in making or settling bets, allowing their continued use. B. Any person not an employee of a communications public utility authorized to transact business in this state by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission acting within the scope of his employment, violating subsection A above, who knows or has reason to know said communications facilities will be used in making or settling commercial gambling transactions and installs said facilities with the intent to facilitate said commercial gambling transactions and is found guilty thereof shall be guilty of a Class D1 felony offense and shall be punished by imprisonment as provided for in subsections B through F of Section 20N of this title, or a fine of not more than Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00), or by both such fine and imprisonment. C. When any communications public utility providing telephone communications service is notified in writing by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction, acting within its jurisdiction, that any facility furnished by it is being used principally for the purpose of transmitting or receiving gambling information, it shall discontinue or refuse the leasing, furnishing or maintaining of such facility, after reasonable notice to the subscriber, but no damages, penalty or forfeiture, civil or criminal, shall be found against any such public utility for any act done in compliance with any such court order. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prejudice the right of any person affected thereby to secure an appropriate determination, as otherwise provided by law, in a court of competent jurisdiction, that such facility should not be discontinued or removed, or should be restored.

Legislative History

Added by Laws 1975, c. 283, § 6, eff. Oct. 1, 1975. Amended by Laws 1997, c. 133, § 273, eff. July 1, 1999; Laws 1999, 1st Ex.Sess., c. 5, § 176, eff. July 1, 1999; Laws 2025, c. 486, § 394, eff. Jan. 1, 2026. NOTE: Laws 1998, 1st Ex.Sess., c. 2, § 23 amended the effective date of Laws 1997, c. 133, § 273 from July 1, 1998, to July 1, 1999.