The U.S. Senate moved Thursday to forbid its own members and their staffs from betting on prediction markets, a response to a widening set of controversies in which individuals with access to sensitive government information appear to have profited from inside knowledge.
The rule change, passed by voice vote with no opposition, was written as an amendment to the Senate’s standing rules and therefore went into effect immediately. Senator Bernie Moreno, Republican of Ohio, who introduced the resolution, said senators have “no business engaging in speculative activities like prediction markets while collecting a taxpayer-funded paycheck, period.” An amendment offered by Senator Alex Padilla, Democrat of California, ensured that the prohibition covers Senate staff as well as the elected members.
The action arrives against a backdrop of mounting concern. A week earlier, federal prosecutors charged a U.S. special forces soldier with using classified intelligence to wager on the January operation that captured Nicolás Maduro, then the president of Venezuela. At the same time, lawmakers have voiced alarm about who might be trading on the unfolding war with Iran.
Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that a group of newly created accounts on Polymarket placed highly specific, well-timed bets on whether the United States and Iran would reach a ceasefire on April 7. Those wagers generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits for the new customers, the AP found. On the same day that report was published, the White House warned its own staff against using private information to trade on prediction markets.
“We must never allow Congress to turn into a casino where members representing the public can gamble on wars or economic crises or elections,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, said on the floor. “That would destroy the very principle of representative government.” Schumer urged the House and the Trump administration to adopt similar restrictions.
The Trump administration has been a key ally of the prediction-market industry in legal battles with several states that have moved to ban the platforms. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, serves as an adviser to both Polymarket and Kalshi. President Trump’s social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, is separately launching a cryptocurrency-based prediction market called Truth Predict.
“The whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino,” President Trump said this month. “You look at what’s going on all over the world and Europe and every place, they’re doing these betting things.”
Bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Todd Young, Republican of Indiana, and Elissa Slotkin, Democrat of Michigan, would extend the ban to all federally elected officials and government employees who use insider information to trade on prediction markets. Young called the Senate rule change “a good first step” and urged the chamber to take up the broader bill.
The resolution takes effect without further action because it modifies the Senate’s own rules. Whether the House will follow suit, or whether the White House will impose similar curbs on the executive branch, remains an open question.