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Opinion of the Court
FCC's sound interpretation. See FCC v. American Broadcasting Co., 347 U. S. 284, 290-291, and n. 8 (1954).
During the second half of this century, Congress dramatically narrowed the scope of the broadcast prohibition in § 1304. The first inroad was minor: In 1950, certain notfor-profit fishing contests were exempted as "innocent pastimes . . . far removed from the reprehensible type of gambling activity which it was paramount in the congressional mind to forbid." S. Rep. No. 2243, 81st Cong., 2d Sess., 2 (1950); see Act of Aug. 16, 1950, ch. 722, 64 Stat. 451, 18 U. S. C. § 1305.
Subsequent exemptions were more substantial. Responding to the growing popularity of state-run lotteries, in 1975 Congress enacted the provision that gave rise to our decision in Edge. 509 U. S., at 422-423; Act of Jan. 2, 1975, 88 Stat. 1916, 18 U. S. C. § 1307; see also § 1953(b)(4). With subsequent modifications, that amendment now exempts advertisements of state-conducted lotteries from the nationwide postal restrictions in §§ 1301 and 1302, and from the broadcast restriction in § 1304, when "broadcast by a radio or television station licensed to a location in . . . a State which conducts such a lottery." § 1307(a)(1)(B); see also §§ 1307(a)(1)(A), (b)(1). The § 1304 broadcast restriction remained in place, however, for stations licensed in States that do not conduct lotteries. In Edge, we held that this remaining restriction on broadcasts from nonlottery States, such as North Carolina, supported the "laws against gambling" in those jurisdictions and properly advanced the "congressional policy of balancing the interests of lottery and nonlottery States." 509 U. S., at 428.
In 1988, Congress enacted two additional statutes that significantly curtailed the coverage of § 1304. First, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), 102 Stat. 2467, 25 U. S. C. § 2701 et seq., authorized Native American tribes to conduct various forms of gambling—including casino gambling—pursuant to tribal-state compacts if the State permits
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