H.R. 7955

[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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