Rep. Jason Crow wants to make sure the people writing the laws aren’t placing bets on how those laws play out. The Colorado Democrat is leading a bipartisan push to ban members of Congress from participating in prediction markets, a move that could reshape how platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket interact with Washington.
Crow spearheaded a letter signed by 19 House members urging Speaker Mike Johnson to implement new rules prohibiting members of Congress, their families, and staff from both trading individual stocks and participating in prediction markets. The effort is co-led by Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Michael Cloud (R-TX).
The case for a ban
“People betting on major military operations, the use of inside information. It’s grotesque. It’s wrong and it should be prohibited.”
Members of Congress sit in classified briefings about military operations, economic policy decisions, and regulatory actions before anyone else knows about them. Then they walk out of those briefings and, under current House rules, nothing stops them from opening Polymarket on their phone and placing a bet.
