[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7955 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7955
To prohibit any person from placing, accepting, or facilitating the
placement or acceptance of a wager regarding a specified event, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 17, 2026
Mr. Casar (for himself, Mr. Amo, Ms. Ansari, and Ms. Tlaib) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, and
Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit any person from placing, accepting, or facilitating the
placement or acceptance of a wager regarding a specified event, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Banning Event Trading on Sensitive
Operations and Federal Functions Act'' or the ``BETS OFF Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Specified event.--The term ``specified event'' means--
(A) an act of terrorism;
(B) an assassination;
(C) a war; or
(D) any event--
i
the primary underlying characteristic
of which is not financial, commercial, or
economic; and
(ii)(I) that is an action taken by any
government, unit of government,
intergovernmental organization, or government
official;
(II) the outcome of which is under the
complete control of any person; or
(III) the outcome of which is known by any
person in advance.
(2) Wager.--The term ``wager''--
(A) means the staking or risking by any person of
something of value upon the outcome of an event,
including the outcome of any portion or aspect thereof,
upon an agreement or understanding that the person or
another person will receive something of value in the
event of a certain outcome; and
(B) does not include insurance for which the
insured holds a lawful insurable interest--
i
under State law within the meaning of
the Act of March 9, 1945 (15 U.S.C. 1011 et
seq.), commonly known as the McCarran-Ferguson
Act;
(ii) under foreign law, with respect to--
(I) risks located outside the
United States; or
(II) the reinsurance of risks
covered under clause (i); or
(iii) under Federal law, including under
the--
(I) Terrorism Insurance Program
established under the Terrorism Risk
Insurance Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 6701
note; Public Law 107-297);
(II) National Flood Insurance
Program established under the National
Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C.
4001 et seq.); or
(III) Federal crop insurance
program established under the Federal
Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et
seq.).
SEC. 3. PROHIBITED CONDUCT.
a
Prohibition.--It shall be unlawful for any person to place,
accept, or facilitate the placement or acceptance of a wager regarding
a specified event.
b
Civil Action.--The Attorney General may bring a civil action
for injunctive relief in an appropriate district court of the United
States against any person who violates subsection (a).
SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS.
a
Interstate and Foreign Travel or Transportation in Aid of
Racketeering Enterprises.--Section 1952(b) of title 18, United States
Code, is amended by inserting ``(including conduct prohibited by
section 3(a) of the Banning Event Trading on Sensitive Operations and
Federal Functions Act)'' after ``gambling''.
b
Prohibition of Illegal Gambling Businesses.--Section 1955(b) of
title 18, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1)(i), by inserting ``section 3(a) of the
Banning Event Trading on Sensitive Operations and Federal
Functions Act or'' after ``is a violation of''; and
(2) in paragraph (4), by inserting ``conduct prohibited by
section 3(a) of the Banning Event Trading on Sensitive
Operations and Federal Functions Act,'' after ```gambling'
includes but is not limited to''.
c
Prohibition on Funding of Unlawful Internet Gambling.--Section
5362(1) of title 31, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(2) by redesignating subparagraph (E) as subparagraph (F);
and
(3) by inserting after subparagraph (D) the following:
``(E) includes conduct prohibited by section 3(a)
of the Banning Event Trading on Sensitive Operations
and Federal Functions Act, without regard to
subparagraph (F) of this paragraph; and''.
d
Common Provisions Applicable to Registered Entities.--Section
5c(c)(5) of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 7a-2(c)(5)) is
amended--
(1) in clause (C)(i)--
(A) by striking subclauses (II), (III), and (IV);
and
(B) by redesignating subclauses (V) and (VI) as
subclauses (II) and (III); and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(D) Prohibition relating to specified events.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, no
agreement, contract, transaction, or swap involving any
specified event, as defined in section 2 of the Banning
Event Trading on Sensitive Operations and Federal
Functions Act (or any index, measure, value, or data
related thereto, or occurrence, extent of an
occurrence, or contingency based thereon), may be
listed or made available for clearing or trading on or
through a registered entity.''.
SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY.
If any provision of this Act or amendment made by this Act, or the
application of such provision or amendment to any person or
circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act
and the amendments made by this Act, and the application of the
provision or amendment to any other person or circumstance, shall not
be affected.
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act shall take effect on the date that is 30 days after the
date of enactment of this Act.
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