Relating to the definition of a bet for gambling criminal offenses purposes.
relating to the definition of a bet for gambling criminal offenses
purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 47.01, Penal Code, is amended by
amending Subdivision (1) and adding Subdivision (7-a) to read as
follows:
(1) “Bet” means an agreement to win or lose something
of value solely or partially by chance. A bet includes an offer to
win a prize, award, or compensation to participants of a paid
fantasy sports league. A bet does not include:
(A) contracts of indemnity or guaranty, or life,
health, property, or accident insurance;
(B) an offer of a prize, award, or compensation
to the actual contestants in a bona fide contest for the
determination of skill, speed, strength, or endurance or to the
owners of animals, vehicles, watercraft, or aircraft entered in a
contest; or
(C) an offer of merchandise, with a value not
greater than $25, made by the proprietor of a bona fide carnival
contest conducted at a carnival sponsored by a nonprofit religious,
fraternal, school, law enforcement, youth, agricultural, or civic
group, including any nonprofit agricultural or civic group
incorporated by the state before 1955, if the person to receive the
merchandise from the proprietor is the person who performs the
carnival contest.
(7-a) “Paid fantasy sports league” means a contest in
which:
(A) the value of any prize, award, or
compensation is established in advance of the beginning of the
contest or of a sporting event on which the contest is based;
(B) participants:
(i) pay a fee to participate in the contest;
and
(ii) assemble a fictional sports team
composed of actual professional or amateur athletes to compete
against fictional sports teams assembled by other participants for
the chance to win a prize, award, or compensation;
(C) any part of the contest’s outcome is
determined by the actual weekly performances in sporting events of
the individual athletes on a participant’s fictional sports team;
and
(D) a portion of the fees collected from
participants is retained by the person who offers the contest and is
not paid to participants as a prize, award, or compensation.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
before that date.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
