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H.R. 967: Betting on Our Future Act

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The text of the bill below is as of Feb 9, 2023 (Introduced).

Summary of this bill

This would make it harder to discover such real sports bets as which color the winning team’s Gatorade shower will be.

Context

In 2018, the Supreme Court allowed states to legalize sports betting. The court struck down a 1992 federal law called the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act as unconstitutional, which had largely outlawed the practice.

Authored by Justice Samuel Alito, the 6–3 decision in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association opened the floodgates. Just in the five years since then, more than half of all states have legalized some form of sports betting. (Although numerous differences still exist between states, such as whether betting on in-state …

I

118th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 967

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 9, 2023

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

A BILL

To prohibit the advertising of sportsbooks on any medium of electronic communication subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Communications Commission, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Betting on Our Future Act.

2.

Prohibition on advertising of sportsbooks on certain media of electronic communication

(a)

Prohibition

It shall be unlawful to advertise a sportsbook on any medium of electronic communication subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission.

(b)

Implementation and enforcement

The Commission shall implement and enforce this section as if this section is a part of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.). A violation of this section, or a regulation promulgated under this section, shall be considered to be a violation of the Communications Act of 1934, or a regulation promulgated under such Act, respectively.

(c)

Definitions

In this section:

(1)

Commission

The term Commission means the Federal Communications Commission.

(2)

Sporting event

The term sporting event includes a fantasy or simulation sports game or contest.

(3)

Sports bet or wager

The term sports bet or wager—

(A)

means the staking or risking by any person of something of value upon the outcome of a sporting event, upon an agreement or understanding that the person or another person will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome;

(B)

includes any scheme of a type described in section 3702 of title 28, United States Code; and

(C)

does not include participation in any game or contest in which participants do not stake or risk anything of value other than—

(i)

personal efforts of the participants in playing the game or contest or obtaining access to the internet; or

(ii)

points or credits that the sponsor of the game or contest provides to participants free of charge and that can be used or redeemed only for participation in games or contests offered by the sponsor.

(4)

Sportsbook

The term sportsbook means a person who is engaged in the business of—

(A)

taking sports bets or wagers; and

(B)

paying out winnings.