US lawmakers have introduced a second bill this week to curb prediction market insider trading by government officials, responding to growing concerns about wagering activity on platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket.
In a Thursday announcement, Senators Todd Young, Elissa Slotkin, John Curtis and Adam Schiff unveiled the bipartisan Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026. Slotkin said, “No one should be profiting off the information and knowledge gained as a public servant, period,” and called the bill an important first step with “real teeth” to ensure rulebreakers face consequences.
The measure would bar government executives from using insider information to trade prediction market contracts. Introduced in the second session of the 119th Congress, the bill covers the president, vice president, members of Congress, political appointees and employees of executive or independent regulatory agencies.
Insider information is defined broadly as any nonpublic fact a reasonable investor would view as important when deciding about a prediction market contract. The bill also establishes reporting requirements: officials must disclose any contract wagers over $250 within 30 days to their supervising ethics office, including details such as number of contracts, price, date and time, contract name, position taken, trading platform and profit or loss.
Penalties under the bill would be the greater of $500 or twice the profit made from the prediction market contract.
This proposal is the second legislative effort this week aimed at the same problem. Earlier, Representatives Adrian Smith and Nikki Budzinski introduced the PREDICT Act, which targets insider trading on prediction markets tied specifically to political events, policy decisions and other government actions.
The bills come as state and federal lawmakers increasingly scrutinize prediction markets and as platforms themselves have moved to tighten rules to deter insiders from wagering. Both Kalshi and Polymarket have adjusted policies and user restrictions to address insider trading concerns.
The debate highlights unease that prediction markets—by tying bets to real-world events—could become a new avenue for officials to profit from nonpublic government information, blurring the line between simple wagers and financial misconduct.