[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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