Bill Text: TX HB4132 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the definition of a bet for gambling criminal offenses purposes.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-03-27 - Referred to Licensing & Administrative Procedures [HB4132 Detail]
Download: Texas-2025-HB4132-Introduced.html
| 89R11221 BEE-D | ||
| By: Shaheen | H.B. No. 4132 | |
|
|
||
|
|
||
| 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. | ||
