- Schumer called on Trump and the House to follow the Senate’s prediction-market ban.
- A special forces soldier allegedly used classified Maduro intel to profit $400,000 on Polymarket.
- Kalshi suspended three congressional candidates for betting on their own elections.
Time reports that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on President Donald Trump and the House to follow the Senate’s unanimous ban on prediction-market trading. “We must never allow Congress to turn into a casino, and we shouldn’t let the White House, or the West Wing, be one either,” Schumer said in a statement Sunday.
The Senate voted unanimously on April 30 to bar senators and staffers from using prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi. The resolution passed by voice vote with no objections, reflecting bipartisan concern about insider trading risks on platforms where users bet on future events.
The ban follows the April 23 indictment of Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a U.S. Army Special Forces master sergeant based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, according to Time. Van Dyke allegedly used classified information about the January 3 operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to place bets totaling almost $34,000 on Polymarket, profiting more than $400,000.
Insider Trading Cases Mount
Kalshi had already taken action against political insider trading before the Senate vote. On April 22, the platform suspended and fined three congressional candidates for wagering on their own elections, CNBC reports.
Matt Klein (Minnesota), Ezekiel Enriquez (Texas), and Mark Moran (Virginia) were fined $539.85, $784.20, and $6,229.30 respectively, and suspended for five years. “These candidates abused their positions for personal gain,” said a Kalshi spokesperson. “We have zero tolerance for insider trading.”
Both Kalshi and Polymarket publicly applauded the Senate’s ban, noting that their platforms already prohibit insider trading. Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said, “We already proactively blocks members of Congress and enforces against insider trading,” Business Insider reports.
The scrutiny extends beyond Washington. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker issued an executive order barring state employees from using insider information to place bets on prediction markets, the Chicago Tribune reports. The order extends existing state ethics rules to cover platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket.
Regulatory Pressure Builds
The prediction market industry faces mounting political pressure at both federal and state levels. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) introduced a bill to ban all federally elected officials and government employees from using insider information to make prediction market bets, the AP reports.
The CFTC sued New York over the state’s prediction market ban in April, escalating a federal-state regulatory battle. Brazil also banned Kalshi, Polymarket, and prediction market derivatives last month, Frontierbeat reported.
Schumer’s call for the White House and House to follow the Senate’s lead signals that prediction market regulation will remain a priority in Congress. The industry’s rapid expansion from elections to sports to military operations has drawn bipartisan scrutiny from lawmakers concerned about corruption and insider trading risks.
The Senate’s prediction market ban took effect immediately on April 30.
