U.S. lawmakers propose legislation to ban congressional members from participating in prediction market bets; regulatory agencies call for extension to all federal employees

BlockBeats News, June 21 — U.S. Representative Brian Stile introduced the "Stop Lawmaker Prediction Act," which aims to prohibit members of Congress and their spouses and children from betting on prediction market contracts related to government policies or actions. Violators will face civil fines of $2,000 or 10% of the transaction amount (whichever is higher), and must forfeit all profits.

The government oversight agency "Government Oversight Project" (POGO) welcomed the bill but argued that its scope is too narrow, calling for the ban to be extended to all officials and staff across the three branches of the federal government: executive, legislative, and judicial. POGO pointed out that current laws impose almost no conflict of interest restrictions on federal employees, and the emergence of prediction markets further amplifies the risk of insider information abuse, which not only leads to unfair competition but could also distort public policy decisions.

Currently, the approval rating for the U.S. Congress is only 24%. Regulatory gaps have already led to real cases: U.S. Army Special Forces Sergeant Cannon Van Dijk is accused of using military intelligence to profit from bets on Polymarket. The case will be heard on December 7. Additionally, the Anti-Corruption Data Alliance tracked over $9.3 million in high-yield bets highly correlated with military operations in Venezuela and Iran, suspected of insider trading.

Previously, the "Stop Insider Trading Act" proposed by Stile was passed by the House Administrative Committee in January but has not seen further progress to date.