In a unanimous move Thursday, the Senate barred its members and staff from using prediction markets—platforms where people wager on political and other future events—amid rising concern over conflicts of interest. The resolution, led by Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno, takes effect immediately, Politico reports. "United States Senators have no business engaging in speculative activities like prediction markets while collecting a taxpayer-funded paycheck," Moreno said. "Serving in Congress is an honor, not a side hustle. Americans deserve to know that their leaders are here for the right reason."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the quick action "a good thing" and pressed House Speaker Mike Johnson and the White House to adopt similar restrictions, vowing to push for rules to ensure administration officials "can't get rich off betting markets." The industry itself signaled approval: Polymarket, a major prediction platform, said it already bars such trading and welcomed the move as a "step forward." GOP Todd Young called the new rule "a good first step" and urged broader limits on prediction-market use by all federal officials and employees, pointing to his bill with Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin that would ban using nonpublic information to place such bets, reports Politico.
"We must never allow Congress to turn into a casino where members representing the public can gamble on wars or economic crises or elections," Schumer said. The move follows scrutiny of questionable bets in which users won large sums by predicting US military actions, the New York Times reports. Last week, a soldier who helped plan the raid to seize Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro was charged with making more than $400,000 from bets on the operation. A day earlier, prediction market Kalshi said it had suspended and fined three congressional candidates caught betting on their own races.
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