DEATH BETS Act

Summary

Prohibits registered derivatives exchanges and clearing organizations from listing or clearing any agreement, contract, transaction, or swap that involves, relates to, or references terrorism, assassination, war, or similar activities, or that references or closely correlates to an individual’s death. The rule is added to the Commodity Exchange Act and gives the CFTC authority to determine whether a contract falls into these prohibited categories. This prevents event-based trading products or betting instruments tied to violent acts or individual deaths from being listed or cleared on regulated markets.

• Bans registered exchanges and clearing organizations from listing or clearing contracts tied to terrorism, assassination, war, or individual death.
• Gives the CFTC authority to determine whether a contract involves or references the prohibited topics.
• Applies to agreements, contracts, transactions, and swaps—broadly covering event-based and prediction-market products on regulated platforms.
• Targets contracts based on ‘‘excluded commodities’’ under the Commodity Exchange Act framework.
• Requires registered entities to refuse to list or clear covered products; enforcement would rely on existing CFTC powers.
• Does not provide new funding or appropriate money; it is a regulatory prohibition rather than a spending bill.
• Likely reduces the availability of controversial event-trading and betting instruments on regulated U.S. markets.
• May have limited indirect effects on unregulated betting platforms if they interact with regulated markets or clearing.