Texas Lieutenant Governor and Senate President Dan Patrick has directed Senate committees to study prediction markets, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology as part of the 2026 interim charges ahead of the Legislature’s next session in January 2027. Patrick’s office said the charges are intended to advance the priorities of the state’s conservative majority and to provide guidance for committee work over the coming year.
Among the items Patrick asked lawmakers to examine are what his office described as the rapid growth of prediction-market betting and the use of federal law to try to evade Texas gambling restrictions, with particular concern about wagering tied to elections. The interim charges also call for a broader review of fintech issues, including how the state coordinates with federal crypto regulation and an assessment of the role and prevalence of crypto kiosks in Texas.
Texas enforces strict gambling limits, largely confining legal wagering to tribal casinos and the state lottery. While several U.S. gaming regulators have filed lawsuits against prediction-market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket over sports and election betting, Texas had not joined those litigation efforts at the time the charges were announced.
The Texas Legislature meets every two years for 140-day sessions and will reconvene in January 2027. In 2025, lawmakers passed a bill creating a Bitcoin reserve that Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law in June, signaling continued state interest in digital-asset policy.
Patrick’s interim agenda also includes a study of artificial intelligence and its effects on the Texas workforce and economic competitiveness. That announcement arrived alongside reports that Google will back a multibillion-dollar data center project in Texas leased to AI firm Anthropic — an initial phase expected to top $5 billion. The development comes as some U.S. bitcoin-mining companies shift toward AI and high-performance computing workloads in response to higher mining difficulty and depressed crypto prices.
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