Members of Congress are rushing to institute new regulatory guardrails around online prediction markets following a series of alleged insider trading scandals. Why it matters: As with cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence, this is proving to be yet another emerging tech policy area in which Congress finds itself struggling to stay ahead of the curve. - More than a dozen bills have been introduced this year aimed at regulating betting markets, according to the Congressional Research Service . Not one has made meaningful progress towards becoming law. - The latest is a bill from Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), first obtained by Axios , which would ban the use of campaign funds to bet on prediction markets. Catch up quick: A $30,000 bet…
Kalshi is putting in place new tools to prevent minors from trading on the prediction market , but is resisting calls to block ages 18-20. Why it matters: Prediction markets are surging in popularity as a way to risk money on sports, politics and news — but they're also facing mounting political scrutiny over their contribution to America's gambling culture . Driving the news: Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour tells Axios that while kids are already banned from trading on the platform, the company is taking several additional steps to prevent them from doing so, including: - Requiring all users to use facial recognition technology when opening the app, making it more difficult for kids to use family accounts to log in. - Requesting selfies…
A former reality TV contestant turned candidate in Virginia and two U.S. House hopefuls in Texas and Minnesota have been banned from the prediction market for five years.
Arizona is the first state to allege the prediction market company has committed criminal violations, accusing it of running an unlicensed gambling operation.
Economists have noticed that betting markets like Kalshi and Polymarket are pretty good at predicting not just political events but economic data, too.
Apps that let people wager on current events have experienced explosive growth in Trump's second term. But one of the leading markets is tied up in lawsuits that cloud the industry's future.