- A new resolution bans U.S. senators from trading on prediction market apps like Kalshi and Polymarket.
- Multiple scandals involving alleged insider trading helped lead to a unanimous ban on prediction market use by senators and Senate staff.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – No members of the U.S. Senate are allowed to use prediction markets after a resolution was passed unanimously on April 30, 2026. The Senate approved the rule change by unanimous voice vote, and it took effect immediately.
Bernie Moreno, a Republican Senator from Ohio, is the one who initiated the resolution. Banning senators, officers, and staff from using prediction market apps helps prevent insider trading from occurring and was framed as an ethics measure to restore public trust.
The unanimous passing of this resolution does not come as a surprise, as the problem of insider trading through prediction markets apps has been an ongoing concern.
Most recently, a U.S. soldier from North Carolina was charged by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. It was alleged that Gannon Ken Van Dyke used classified information to profit on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by the U.S. government. That federal case became one of the primary catalysts lawmakers cited while debating the Senate restriction.
He allegedly profited over $400,000 from Polymarket through the trade.
This is not the first time that the affiliation of the U.S. government has been linked to legal sports betting and/or prediction market scandals.
Kalshi announced on April 22 that three candidates — Democratic congressional candidate Matt Klein of Minnesota, Republican candidate Ezekiel Enriquez of Texas, and Senate candidate Mark Moran of Virginia — bet on their own elections and were suspended and fined afterward.
The co-founder and CEO of Kalshi, Tarek Mansour, publicly voiced his support of the U.S. Senate banning members from using Kalshi and other prediction market apps, calling it a positive step for trust and transparency in the prediction market industry.
