Several US lawmakers are taking another shot at turning the Supporting Affordability & Fairness with Every Bet Act (SAFE Bet Act) into law on the eve of March Madness. Earlier this week,Representative Paul Tonko (D-New York) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) announced that they will be reintroducing the SAFE Bet Act to Congress with a key change that hasn’t been in previous versions.
According to Blumenthal and Tonko, the new SAFE Bet Act includes a new clause that requires states to “work with the federal government to shut down the illegal market”. This move is aimed at quelling outbreaks of unlicensed operators working in states with regulated sports betting. The notion is a bit redundant as states such as Michigan have been working to exactly that quite a bit lately.
The core of the SAFE Bet Act, which has huge implications for the US-facing gaming industry, remains unchanged from previous efforts to get the bill passed into law. That mainly includes a clause that requires states to get federal permission before offering regulated sports betting to their citizens. Since 38 US States already offer regulated sports betting, this won’t have much impact.
What would have a major impact are the SAFE Bet Act’s other clauses, which focus on regulating operator advertising and limit the use of AI in targeting and marketing to players. Of particular note to operators are portions of the bill calling for a ban on advertising during live sporting events; a ban on advertising between the hours of 8 am and 10 pm local time; and a ban on bonus bets and VIP programs.
While Blumenthal and Tonko expressed optimism about the SAFE Bet Act’s chances of becoming a law, previous versions of the bill have not met with the same enthusiasm from Congress and did not move out of Congress.