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To amend the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit gambling on animal fighting ventures, and for other purposes.
Summary
- Amends the Animal Welfare Act to add a prohibition on gambling related to animal fighting ventures.
- Makes it unlawful for any person to gamble on an animal fighting venture, whether conducted in-person or broadcast.
- Updates the Animal Welfare Act to clarify and expand its animal fighting prohibitions under federal law.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
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Rep. Bacon, Don (R-NE) [#2]
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Don Bacon’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- Employer not reported $91,070
- TENASKA $33,900
- SANDHILLS PUBLISHING $19,800
- COX ENTERPRISES $18,000
- CALVERT SYSTEMS $17,180
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Don Bacon → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- May 11, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. · house
- May 11, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 11, 2026
Mr. Bacon introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit gambling on animal fighting ventures, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High- risk Trafficking Act of 2026” or the “FIGHT Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. ANIMAL FIGHTING.
Section 26 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2156) is amended—
(1) by striking the section designation and header and all that follows through “It shall be unlawful” in subsection
(a)(2) and inserting the following:
“SEC. 26. SPONSORING OR EXHIBITING AN ANIMAL IN, ATTENDING, CAUSING AN INDIVIDUAL WHO HAS NOT ATTAINED THE AGE OF 16 TO ATTEND, OR GAMBLING ON, AN ANIMAL FIGHTING VENTURE.
“(a) Sponsoring or Exhibiting.—
“(1) In general.—It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly sponsor or exhibit an animal in an animal fighting venture.
“(2) Attending or causing an individual who has not attained the age of 16 to attend.—It shall be unlawful”; and
(2) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following:
“(3) Animal venture gambling.—It shall be unlawful for any person to gamble on an animal fighting venture, including an in-person or broadcast event.”. <all>
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