diff --git a/telethon/events/__init__.py b/telethon/events/__init__.py
index db08a04c..5409c368 100644
--- a/telethon/events/__init__.py
+++ b/telethon/events/__init__.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import abc
 import datetime
 import itertools
+import re
 
 from .. import utils
 from ..errors import RPCError
@@ -179,13 +180,14 @@ class NewMessage(_EventBuilder):
         would not return such thing, this is a custom modification).
     """
     def __init__(self, incoming=None, outgoing=None,
-                 chats=None, blacklist_chats=False):
+                 chats=None, blacklist_chats=False, pattern=None):
         if incoming and outgoing:
             raise ValueError('Can only set either incoming or outgoing')
 
         super().__init__(chats=chats, blacklist_chats=blacklist_chats)
         self.incoming = incoming
         self.outgoing = outgoing
+        self.pattern = pattern
 
     def build(self, update):
         if isinstance(update,
@@ -229,13 +231,15 @@ class NewMessage(_EventBuilder):
             return
 
         # Short-circuit if we let pass all events
-        if all(x is None for x in (self.incoming, self.outgoing, self.chats)):
+        if all(x is None for x in (self.incoming, self.outgoing, self.chats, self.pattern)):
             return event
 
         if self.incoming and event.message.out:
             return
         if self.outgoing and not event.message.out:
             return
+        if self.regex and not re.match(self.regex, event.raw_text):
+            return
 
         return self._filter_event(event)