The SAFE Bet Act: What the New Federal Sports Betting Rules Actually Mean for Your Wallet and Your Weekend

The new Supporting Affordability and Fairness with Every Bet Act of 2025 (SAFE Bet Act) is a massive piece of legislation designed to set the minimum federal rules for sports betting across the country. If your state already has online sportsbooks, or is thinking about getting them, this bill is the new playbook. It’s essentially a federal effort to standardize the chaos of state-by-state regulation, focusing heavily on consumer protection, responsible gaming, and maintaining the integrity of the games themselves.

The New Playbook: Federal Standards for State Programs

Title I of the SAFE Bet Act lays out the mandatory minimum standards that any state must meet if it wants to run a legal sports betting program. The big takeaway here is that the federal government—specifically the Attorney General (AG)—now has the power to approve or deny a state’s entire betting program, which must be renewed every three years. If a state doesn't get AG approval, operators there can't legally take bets after an 18-month grace period.

This means that for the first time, there’s a clear federal stick: if a state doesn't follow the rules, its entire betting industry could be shut down. This is a huge shift in power, moving the final say on the legitimacy of a state's sports betting from the statehouse to Washington, D.C. The bill requires states to designate a State Regulatory Entity to oversee everything, from licensing operators to enforcing the rules laid out in Section 103.

Where You Can’t Bet and Who Can’t Bet

Section 103 contains the most critical changes that will affect your daily life and your betting habits. The core restrictions are designed to protect young people and the integrity of the game:

• College and Amateur Sports are Off-Limits: You absolutely cannot bet on any amateur athletic competition or any intercollegiate sport. This means no betting on March Madness, college football, or the Olympics (unless you're betting on professionals). For the millions of fans who enjoy betting on college games, this is a total game-changer. The bill makes this ban explicit and mandatory for all approved state programs.
• No In-Game Betting: Once an event has started, operators are banned from accepting any bets on it. This eliminates the popular “live betting” or “in-game betting” markets, where you can bet on the next pitch or the next drive. This is a major restriction on the current online betting experience.
• Who’s Banned: Beyond the national self-exclusion list (more on that later), the bill bans anyone under 21, as well as athletes, coaches, officials, or employees of a sports organization from betting on events run by that organization. This is a necessary step to protect game integrity, but it also means that, say, a stadium vendor who works for the NFL could be barred from betting on any NFL game.

The New Rules for Your Betting App: Protecting Your Wallet

The SAFE Bet Act introduces serious financial and consumer protections aimed at curbing aggressive marketing and preventing people from betting beyond their means. If you use a betting app, these changes will be noticeable:

• No Credit Cards: Operators are banned from accepting deposits made with a credit card. This forces bettors to use money they actually have, rather than borrowed funds, addressing a major concern about debt and problem gambling.
• Affordability Checks: If you try to deposit over $1,000 in 24 hours or $10,000 in 30 days, the operator must run an affordability check. This check is passed only if the deposit is less than 30% of your monthly income or if they verify your income through a standard consumer lending assessment. This is a massive shift, forcing operators to act like banks when dealing with large deposits, which will be a significant hurdle for high-volume bettors.
• Bonus Limits and Bans: Say goodbye to aggressive bonus offers. Operators cannot offer reload bonuses (free money just because your balance is low) or high-value rewards worth more than $5 tied to how much you gamble. They also can’t offer any rewards linked to wins, losses, or deposits. This is designed to kill the aggressive VIP programs that target high-spending customers.
• Withdrawal Rights: Operators can’t force you to wait an unreasonable time for ID verification, charge dormancy fees on unused accounts, or force you to participate in advertising just to get your money out. They also can't set minimum or maximum withdrawal limits. Your money is your money, and they can’t hold it hostage.

Shutting Down the Ad Blitz

If you’re tired of being bombarded by sports betting ads, the SAFE Bet Act offers some relief, particularly for families and those watching games. Advertising is now subject to strict rules:

• Time Curfew: Ads cannot be shown between 8:00 am and 10:00 pm local time. This is a direct effort to reduce exposure to minors and those who might be vulnerable to problem gambling, though it will severely limit ads during prime-time sporting events.
• Content Restrictions: Ads cannot include odds boosts, bonus offers, or instructions on how to place a wager. They must clearly state the operator and provide addiction help information. The goal is to make ads purely informational, not promotional or enticing.
• AI Ban: Operators are explicitly banned from using artificial intelligence to track individual bettors, create targeted promotions, or develop new products like micro-bets (bets on specific events within a game, like the next foul throw).

Public Health Gets a Seat at the Table

Title II focuses entirely on the public health crisis surrounding gambling addiction. It mandates several new federal actions:

• National Self-Exclusion List: The Secretary must create and manage a national list where individuals can easily ban themselves from sports betting across all participating states. This is crucial for people who need a hard stop on their betting activity.
• Federal Studies: The bill requires an annual nationwide survey using the Problem Gambling Severity Index to track the real-world harm of online sports betting. Crucially, the gambling industry cannot conduct, fund, or instruct this study, ensuring the data is independent. Furthermore, the Surgeon General must issue a report to Congress within one year on the public health challenges associated with the widespread availability of sports betting.

The Real-World Impact: Less Fun, More Safety

For the average bettor, the SAFE Bet Act means a less aggressive, less bonus-driven, and significantly more restricted betting experience. Your ability to bet on college sports or place a live bet during a game is gone. Your ability to use a credit card to chase a loss is gone. If you're a high-volume bettor, you'll face mandatory income checks. For regulators and public health advocates, this bill is a major win, creating federal standards that prioritize consumer protection and affordability over operator profits. For the sports organizations, they get more control over the data used to settle bets and a federally backed system to protect game integrity.