BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 1457 |
By: Raymond |
Licensing & Administrative Procedures |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Interested parties note that ambiguity exists regarding the legality of fantasy sports contests and contend that current state law does not adequately address such contests. C.S.H.B. 1457 seeks to resolve this ambiguity and establish provisions relating to the operation of fantasy sports contests.
|
||||||||||
CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
|
||||||||||
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
|
||||||||||
ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 1457 amends the Occupations Code to authorize a person to pay an entrance fee to participate in a fantasy sports contest, as defined by the bill, in which a prize is awarded to the competition winner and to establish that a person who pays such an entrance fee is not placing a bet for purposes of the application of an offense under Penal Code provisions relating to gambling. The bill authorizes a person to offer fantasy sports contests as a fantasy sports operator in Texas in accordance with the bill's provisions and any applicable federal law and to participate in the earnings of a business that offers fantasy sports contests. The bill prohibits a fantasy sports operator from awarding a prize based on the score, the point spread, or any performance of a single professional or amateur sports team or any combination of professional or amateur sports teams, solely on any single performance of an individual athlete in a single professional or amateur sports competition or other event, or on live pari-mutuel racing under the Texas Racing Act; from offering a fantasy sports contest to the public without disclosing before the contest all prizes or awards offered to winning contest participants; or from offering a fantasy sports contest based on the performance of athletes in a youth, high school, or collegiate sports competition or athletic event. The bill sets out specified consumer protection provisions for which a fantasy sports operator is required to implement commercially reasonable procedures.
C.S.H.B. 1457 authorizes the attorney general to institute an action for injunctive relief to restrain a violation by a person who appears to be in violation of or threatening to violate the bill's provisions and requires such an action to be filed in either a district court in Travis County or the county in which the violation occurred. The bill authorizes the attorney general to recover reasonable expenses incurred in obtaining injunctive relief and authorizes a court to include reasonable requirements to prevent further violations of the bill's provisions in an injunction issued in such an action.
C.S.H.B. 1457 amends the Penal Code to establish as a defense to prosecution for gambling that the actor reasonably believed that the conduct was permitted under the bill's provisions and to establish as a defense to prosecution for other gambling-related offenses that the conduct was authorized under the bill's provisions.
|
||||||||||
EFFECTIVE DATE
On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2017.
|
||||||||||
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 1457 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
|
||||||||||
|