The Senate unanimously passed a resolution Thursday that prohibits its members and staff from trading on prediction markets, effective immediately. The measure passed without a roll call vote and reflects growing concern that lawmakers could exploit inside information for financial gain.
Sen. Bernie Moreno, the Ohio Republican who introduced the resolution, framed the ban as essential to public trust. "Engaging in any way in a prediction market or trying to place bets where we might have inside information deteriorates our confidence that our constituents have in us," Moreno said on the Senate floor. He added that constituents must know "from this day forward, there is no chance that any member of Congress, member of the Senate, in this case, in this resolution I'm going to propose, be involved in any prediction market whatsoever."
The rule applies only to the Senate chamber. Rep. Ashley Hinson, an Iowa Republican, signaled she would introduce identical language in the House. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the action "a great thing" and pressed House Speaker Mike Johnson to act swiftly. "Speaker Johnson should immediately do the same thing in the House, and prohibit House members from playing around in prediction markets as well," Schumer said.
The timing of the ban responds to a series of controversies involving apparent insider trading on platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi. In January, a user earned roughly $400,000 betting that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would lose power, a wager later tied to a U.S. special forces soldier charged with accessing classified information. Last week, Kalshi suspended and fined three political candidates, including Virginia Senate hopeful Mark Moran, for wagering on their own races.
Both prediction market operators publicly endorsed the Senate action. Polymarket's statement noted that its rules already prohibited such conduct but framed the Senate ban as beneficial to the industry. Kalshi co-founder Tarek Mansour called it "a great step to increase trust in our markets by making it an industry standard."
Not everyone believes the measure goes far enough. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., has introduced separate legislation to ban prediction markets entirely from accepting wagers tied to government actions, terrorism, war, and assassination. Murphy told NBC News that restricting individual traders would prove impossible because information spreads through staff networks and personal connections. "I think it'd be an endless wild goose chase to try to find everyone who might have inside information," he said. "You can't fix this problem by banning people from trading. You can only fix this problem by banning the markets to begin with."
Author Sarah Mitchell: "The Senate moved fast here, but it's basically asking the betting platforms to do the policing themselves, which feels like asking the casino to check its own books."
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