“A bill to establish minimum Federal standards for sports betting, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section designates the Act as the “Supporting Affordability and Fairness with Every Bet Act of 2025” or the “SAFE Bet Act” and sets forth the table of contents.
This section defines 22 terms for purposes of the Act, including “sports wager” (encompassing straight bets, parlays, proposition bets, and in-game wagering, with exceptions for certain activities under federal law); “sports wagering operator” (a licensed gaming facility offering sports wagering or an interactive sports wagering platform); “interstate sports wagering compact” (an agreement among states, Indian Tribes, or both to offer sports wagering); “gambling disorder”; “anonymized sports wagering data”; “national self-exclusion list”; “microbet”; “reasonable lender standard” (using underwriting criteria applied by an insured depository institution, as defined in the Federal Deposit Insurance Act); and “State” (including the District of Columbia and U.S. territories).
This section prohibits any person from knowingly accepting a sports wager, effective 18 months after enactment, except (1) for a sports wagering operator located in a sports wagering opt-in state accepting wagers in accordance with state law, or (2) for a person accepting wagers in accordance with applicable state social gambling law. It authorizes the Attorney General to bring civil actions in U.S. district courts (or territorial courts) to enjoin violations, with jury trials available on demand for contempt of injunctions. It imposes civil penalties of not more than the greater of $10,000 or three times the amount of the applicable sports wager for each separate violation, enforceable in district courts (or territorial courts) in accordance with 28 U.S.C. 1355; specifies that violations are not crimes and do not create criminal-like disabilities; and states that civil remedies are independent of criminal prosecutions under other federal laws, including 18 U.S.C. 1084 (Wire Act) and 1955 (prohibiting illegal gambling businesses).
This section establishes a process for states to apply to the Attorney General for approval to administer a state sports wagering program, requiring an application that includes a description of the program, applicable state laws, the state regulatory entity, and an assurance from the state attorney general or chief legal officer. The Attorney General must approve a complete application within 180 days unless it fails to meet standards in section 103, with denials issued in writing specifying deficiencies; approvals are valid for a three-year period, after which states may submit renewal applications under the same process. States must notify the Attorney General of material changes within 30 days, and the Attorney General must promulgate regulations for emergency revocation of approvals and administrative review of denials or revocations.
This section directs the Attorney General to approve a state sports wagering program application under section 102 unless the program fails to meet specified standards. Those standards require states to (1) establish or designate a public state regulatory entity to regulate sports wagering operators and enforce state sports wagering laws; (2) limit in-person sports wagering to operators, restrict internet sports wagering to individuals located in the state (or states and Indian lands party to an Attorney General-approved interstate compact) with location verification, require entity approval of wagers based on verifiability and independence criteria, and prohibit operators and the entity from approving or accepting proposition bets on amateur athletic competitions or intercollegiate sports (as defined in 15 U.S.C. 7801), wagers on commenced events, reload bonuses, tier program rewards exceeding $5 linked to gambling activity levels, or VIP program compensation tied to customer deposits or gambling metrics; and (3) enable sports organizations to request restrictions on wagers necessary to maintain contest integrity (i.e., to prevent reasonably foreseeable risks of outcome compromise), with the state regulatory entity required to promptly approve such requests unless unnecessary (with public written explanation and review process) and notify operators of approved restrictions.
This section directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct an annual nationwide survey on the scope of problem gambling and gambling-related harm from online sports betting, beginning no later than one year after enactment of this section. The survey must (1) assess rates and outcomes of online sports betting and (2) examine problem gambling rates using the Problem Gambling Severity Index (Ferris and Wynne, 2001) on a sample of online sports bettors over the prior 12 months; the Secretary must publicize summaries and analyses of the results and ensure the survey is conducted by qualified researchers independent of the gambling industry.
This section establishes a national self-exclusion list for sports wagering, to be maintained and administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services in cooperation with state regulatory entities. The list enables individuals to voluntarily restrict themselves from placing sports wagers—including by imposing wager limits—with sports wagering operators in any sports wagering opt-in state and includes a process for adding or removing oneself from the list. (In this section, the terms *sports wager*, *sports wagering operator*, and *sports wagering opt-in state* have the meanings given in sec. 2 of the Supporting Affordability and Fairness with Every Bet Act of 2025.)
This section directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and in coordination with other agencies, to enhance and expand infrastructure and activities—as appropriate—to track the epidemiology of gambling addiction and incorporate such data into an integrated surveillance system, which may consist of or include a registry known as the National Gambling Addiction Surveillance System. The section further requires the system, if established, to facilitate research on gambling addiction; to make information and analysis available to the public, including researchers, subject to privacy protections and applicable Federal and State law.
This section deems a sports wager made through an interactive sports wagering platform to occur at the physical location of the server or equipment accepting the wager, for purposes of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). It further specifies that such a wager accepted through a server on Indian lands exclusively occurs on Indian lands if the wager and server are in the same state and the state and Indian tribe have a Tribal-State compact authorizing interactive sports wagering. The section states that it does not preempt or limit state or tribal authority to impose additional or more stringent sports wagering requirements and does not affect taxation of sports wagering by states, Indian tribes, or localities.
This section requires states and sports wagering operators to support federal efforts to eliminate unlicensed gaming facilities and platforms operating outside the United States that accept sports wagers from U.S. customers by promptly issuing cease and desist orders to any such entities designated by the Attorney General.
This section establishes a severability clause, providing that the invalidity of any provision of this Act, amendment made by this Act, regulation promulgated under this Act or an amendment, or their application to any person or circumstance does not affect the remaining provisions, amendments, regulations, or applications, which shall continue to be enforced to the maximum extent practicable.