March 17, 2026
Mr. Murphy (for himself and Mr. Hickenlooper) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
To ban certain types of wagers.
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 entitled An Act to express the intent of the Congress with reference to the regulation of the business of insurance
, approved March 9, 1945 (commonly known as the McCarran-Ferguson Act
; 15 U.S.C. 1011 et seq.);
(ii)
under foreign law, with respect—
(I)
to risks located outside the United States; or
(II)
the reinsurance of risks covered under clause (i); or
(iii)
under Federal law, including under—
(I)
the Terrorism Insurance Program established under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 6701 note; Public Law 107–297);
(II)
the National Flood Insurance Program established under the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.); or
(III)
the 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)(i)(1) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after gambling
the following: (including conduct prohibited by section 3(a) of the BETS OFF Act)
.
(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 BETS OFF Act or
after is a violation of
; and
(2)
in paragraph (4), by inserting conducted prohibited by section 3(a) of the BETS OFF 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 BETS OFF 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 subparagraph (C)(i)—
(A)
by striking subclauses (II), (III), and (IV); and
(B)
by redesignating subclauses (V) and (VI) as subclauses (II) and (III), respectively; 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 BETS OFF 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.