U.S. senators won't be weighing in on prediction markets bets after banning themselves

The Senate agreed unanimously to revise its rules to prohibition members and their staffs from wagers connected prediction markets platforms.

Apr 30, 2026, 10:13 p.m. 2 min read

A U.S. Senate that's struggled to determination crypto marketplace operation authorities moved similar lightning connected Thursday to prohibition themselves from participating successful prediction markets.

Acting connected a simple, 14-line resolution pushed by Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Moreno, the Senate agreed unanimously to enactment a regularisation betwixt members and the progressively popular, arguable betting platforms that person drawn scrutiny implicit insider-trading enactment and fights implicit who has regulatory jurisdiction.

“United States Senators person nary concern engaging successful speculative activities similar prediction markets portion collecting a taxpayer-funded paycheck, period,” said Senator Moreno in a Thursday statement. “Serving successful Congress should ne'er beryllium astir uncovering caller ways to profit; it should beryllium astir delivering results for the American people.”

Effective immediately, the alteration to Senate rules present holds that senators can't participate "an agreement, contract, oregon transaction that provides for immoderate purchase, sale, payment, oregon transportation that is babelike connected the occurrence, nonoccurrence, oregon the grade of the occurrence of a circumstantial event."

Political betting has surged successful popularity, and immoderate candidates for bureau person already been penalized for wagering connected their ain races.

One of the starring platforms, Polymarket, posted connected societal media tract X that the institution is successful "full support" of the Senate's action. Polymarket, which isn't expected to run successful the U.S. aft a 2022 statement with the CFTC, noted that its idiosyncratic rules "already prohibit specified conduct, but codifying this into instrumentality is simply a measurement guardant for the industry."

Betting connected Polymarket presently gives Democrats adjacent likelihood that they'll reclaim the Senate bulk successful the November elections. Democrats person mostly been much captious and suspicious of the fast-growing industry.