[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4115 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4115
To ban certain types of wagers.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
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
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To ban certain types of wagers.
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 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.
<all>