The U.S. Senate, which has been working hard to push legislation on the structure of cryptocurrency markets, took lightning action on Thursday to ban itself from participating in prediction markets.
Under a simple 14-line resolution pushed by Ohio Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno, the Senate unanimously approved restrictions on members and increasingly popular and controversial betting platforms that have come under scrutiny for insider trading activities and disputes over who has regulatory jurisdiction.
“A U.S. senator is not qualified to receive a taxpayer-funded salary while participating in speculative activities such as prediction markets,” Senator Moreno said in a statement Thursday. “Serving in Congress should never be about finding new ways to make money; it should be about delivering results for the American people.”
Changes to Senate rules, effective immediately, state that senators cannot enter into “any agreement, contract or transaction for the purchase, sale, payment or delivery of goods that is contingent upon the occurrence, non-occurrence or occurrence of a specified event.”
Political betting is growing in popularity, and some candidates for public office have been punished for betting on their own races.
Polymarket, one of the leading platforms, said in a post on social media site X that the company “fully supports” the Senate’s action. Polymarket, which should not operate in the U.S. following a 2022 agreement with the CFTC, noted that its user rules “already prohibit such conduct, but enshrining it in law is a step forward for the industry.”
Bets on Polymarket currently give Democrats even odds of regaining the Senate majority in November’s elections. Democrats generally take a more critical and skeptical view of fast-growing industries.
