SAFE Bet Act Reintroduced, Federal Bill Would Place Guardrails on Sports Betting

Posted on: March 12, 2025, 08:43h. 

Last updated on: March 12, 2025, 09:55h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.
  • The SAFE Bet Act has been introduced to Congress
  • The bill would implement federal minimum standards for sports betting
  • Rep. Paul Tonko and Sen. Richard Blumenthal are behind the bill

The SAFE Bet Act, or Supporting Affordability & Fairness With Every Bet Act, was reintroduced to Congress on Tuesday by US Rep. Paul Tonko (D-New York) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut).

SAFE Bet Act sports betting Paul Tonko
US Rep. Paul Tonko reintroduces the SAFE Bet Act in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, outside the United States Capitol. The legislation seeks to implement federal guardrails on the legal sports betting industry. (Image: X)

House Resolution 2087 would establish minimum federal standards for the regulation of sports betting. They are far-reaching, as the bill suggests banning all sports gambling advertising between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m., and during all live sports programming on media regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Bettors would be limited to making no more than five deposits per 24 hours into their online sportsbook accounts, and sportsbooks would need to conduct “affordability checks” on customers making large wagers or bets exceeding their typical bets.

Tonko began his media spectacle in front of the US Capitol by saying that the country is a week out from the March Madness men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments — the most-bet sporting event in the United States — where “Americans will be placing, and most likely losing, bets made on their favorite teams.” Tonko cited that legal sports bettors in the US lost almost $14 billion in 2024 — a 25% increase from 2023.

The SAFE Bet Act was directed to the House Energy and Commerce and Natural Resources committees for initial consideration.

Tonko Targets Legal Gaming Industry

Tonko and Blumenthal’s SAFE Bet Act is a clone of their 2024 bill that failed to pass a committee. While it did receive a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, critics panned the gathering for being one-sided, with no one from the legal sports gaming industry invited to testify.

Tonko continued his attack on the legal, highly regulated gaming industry on Tuesday.

The industry labels that record [$14 billion] number as revenue — a number to be celebrated and revered. The reality is that $14 billion in revenue for the gambling industry is $14 billion extracted from the pockets of everyday Americans,” Tonko declared.

Tonko continued his opinion that much of the sportsbook revenue is made off the “suffering” and a “disproportionately small number of gamblers.”

The SAFE Bet Act additionally seeks to prohibit regulated sportsbooks from using language designed to induce participation such as “bonus,” “risk-free,” and “no-sweat.” Odds boosts and similar promotions would also be booted.

Sportsbooks would also be banned from utilizing AI to craft customer-specific marketing and microbets, or in-game betting opportunities.

Sports Betting Likened to Drugs, Nicotine 

Tonko and Blumenthal said the liberalization of sports betting has caused significant societal harm, not unlike nicotine and tobacco, as well as illegal narcotics. Blumenthal said he wants to stop the sports betting industry from “abhorrently exploiting addiction purposefully and relentlessly, driving people deeper into gambling abuse disorder.”

Sports betting has become a science of exploitation by targeting and tracking individuals who are prone to addiction,” Blumenthal continued. “That’s the abuse we’re trying to stop.”

Blumenthal said the SAFE Bet Act is “smart” legislation, federal oversight to force sportsbooks to behave responsibly and in the public’s best interest. The senator said the self-exclusion component of the federal bill is of utmost importance in providing addicted bettors a pathway to recovery.

“People want to break the addiction. They want to quit,” Blumenthal continued. “Just as many who are addicted to nicotine or illicit drugs want to break those addictions, the disease can be broken by people who adopt a place on the self-exclusion list.”

Industry Response 

Tonko and Blumenthal didn’t discuss how legal sports betting has benefited state governments with new tax revenue, nor the many consumer protections the legal sports gambling market has provided the millions of consumers who previously used underground bookies and offshore online sportsbook websites to facilitate their wagers. Every state with legal sports betting also offers a self-exclusion option.

The American Gaming Association (AGA), which opposes the SAFE Bet Act, says state lawmakers who crafted their state’s sports betting rules went to great lengths to ensure consumer protections and that Tonko and Blumenthal’s bill is federal overreach.

Today’s regulated sports wagering operators are contributing billions in state taxes across the U.S., protecting consumers from dangerous neighborhood bookies and illegal offshore websites, and working diligently with over 5,000 state and tribal regulators and other stakeholders to ensure a commitment to responsibility and positive play. Six years into legal sports betting, introducing heavy-handed federal prohibitions is a slap in the face to state legislatures and gaming regulators who have dedicated countless time and resources to developing thoughtful frameworks unique to their jurisdictions, and have continued to iterate as their marketplaces evolve,” the AGA said after the SAFE Bet Act was first filed last fall.

The AGA and the legal sports betting industry argue the SAFE Bet Act would have unintended consequences. One example is that since legal sportsbooks would be barred from offering odds boosts and other incentives, illegal sportsbooks could become more attractive with better odds, better signup promos, and better ongoing rewards.