Rep. Bryan Steil introduced the Stop Lawmakers from Predicting Act, which would ban members of Congress, their spouses, and dependents from wagering on political outcomes and government actions in prediction markets. Violators face significant fines.
The bill addresses concerns about potential insider trading by lawmakers and aims to bolster public trust in elected officials by preventing them from financially benefiting from non-public information.
Representative Bryan Steil, a Republican from Wisconsin and chair of the House Administration Committee, has introduced the Stop Lawmakers from Predicting Act. This legislation aims to prohibit members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from placing wagers on prediction markets concerning policy outcomes, government actions, or election results. Steil stated the bill is intended to prevent elected officials from profiting from insider information and to restore public trust. Violators would face penalties including fines of $2,000 or 10% of the wager's value, whichever is greater, plus any realized profit. The bill builds on previous efforts to ban congressional stock trading and follows similar actions by the Senate and investigations by the House Oversight Committee into platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. These moves come amid growing bipartisan concern over lawmakers using prediction markets, amplified by the arrest of a U.S. Army Sergeant accused of using confidential information for bets on Polymarket.
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