Vindman Leads U.S. House Effort to Ban Members of Congress from Using Prediction Markets

Vindman: "Just like we should be banned from trading stocks, Members of Congress should be banned from prediction markets. The American people have zero trust in Congress, and we need to pass common sense measures like this to restore honesty and integrity to the people's House."

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Eugene Vindman (Va.-07) today introduced common sense legislation to prohibit Members of Congress and their immediate family members from participating in prediction markets.

"Just like we should be banned from trading stocks, Members of Congress should be banned from prediction markets. The American people have zero trust in Congress, and we need to pass common sense measures like this to restore honesty and integrity to the people's House," said Vindman. "We receive sensitive briefings, meet with senior leaders, and know what legislation is coming before anyone else. Allowing lawmakers or their families to use prediction markets, just like allowing them to trade stocks, undermines public trust, endangers America's national security, and enables the kind of shady behavior the American people have grown sick of. As an ethics lawyer, I believe public service should never be used as an opportunity to profit from insider access, and we need to ban this now."

BACKGROUND

Vindman has also raised concerns about prediction markets tied to national security matters, warning that markets fueled by insider information could create risks for military operations and American service members.

In April, Vindman led 15 colleagues in a bipartisan letter to Secretary Pete Hegseth urging the Department of Defense to issue a general order prohibiting military personnel from using prediction markets to bet on national security-related events. The request followed the U.S. Department of Justice charging an active-duty Special Operations soldier with using classified information tied to the raid that captured Nicolás Maduro to place bets on Polymarket.

Earlier that month, he sent a letter to Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan demanding the immediate preservation and disclosure of all records tied to bets on U.S. military actions, following reports that traders have profited from wagers linked to sensitive operations.

Vindman is a cosponsor of the Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026 (H.R. 7004). This bill would ban Members of Congress, their immediate families, staff, and the executive branch from using prediction markets.

Vindman is also a cosponsor of the TRUST in Congress Act (H.R. 396) which would require Members of Congress and their immediate family to place investments into a blind trust until 6 months after leaving their role in Congress.

Vindman also has a long track record of supporting legislation that takes on corruption and demands we hold public servants to the highest ethical standard.

• He introduced the Accountability Doesn't Expire Act (H.R. 4210), which would extend oversight and enforcement windows tied to pandemic-era fraud investigations, including misuse of federal relief funds.

• He helped introduce the BEACON Act (H.R. 4557) which would create an independent Inspector General for the Executive Office of the President to investigate waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct inside the White House.

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