WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Gabe Amo (D-RI-01), U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), Congressman Greg Casar (D-TX-35) and Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ-03) unveiled the Banning Event Trading on Sensitive Operations and Federal Functions (BETS OFF) Act, bicameral legislation to ban wagering on government actions, terrorism, war, assassination, and events where an individual knows or controls the outcome. Many of these "event contracts" are traded on offshore prediction markets, the bill also amends existing laws against illegal gambling to enforce these rules by shutting down payment systems used by illegal online platforms and imposing criminal penalties for people in the U.S. who promote, manage, own, or supervise these businesses domestically. The bill is co-sponsored by U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper (D-CO) and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-12).

"The people entrusted with our nation's most sensitive secrets and our service members' lives should not be able to gamble on outcomes they influence," said Congressman Gabe Amo (D-RI-01). "It's a blatant conflict of interest and the height of unethical behavior. I'm proud to introduce the BETS OFF Act to stop betting markets from facilitating powerful politicians and their pawns from putting their personal enrichment over the public's trust."

"There's no getting around the fact that any prediction market where somebody knows or controls the outcome of a bet is ripe for corruption," said Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT). "Even worse, prediction markets are also an avenue by which government decisions get influenced by who's making money off them, and that should be unforgivable to the American public. When events that involve good and evil, life and death become just another financial product, morality no longer matters and the soul of America is fundamentally corrupted. This bill will stop the transformation of our society into a rigged video game casino by banning the prediction markets that allow the powerful insiders to get rich by commodifying every part of our lives."

"America is facing a crisis of corruption, and this bill is about cracking down on one of the most dangerous new forms of corruption infecting our government," said Congressman Greg Casar (D-TX-35). "Too often, prediction markets are becoming yet another place for rich and powerful people to cash in on insider information. This bill will put a stop to that."

"It's common sense: people shouldn't be allowed to bet on war or other government actions. Period," said Senator John Hickenlooper (D-CO).

"Prediction markets sell themselves as a place where everyone has an equal shot at winning big. The reality is they're rigged against ordinary people and ripe for abuse - especially when betting on government actions," said Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ-03). "When the President and national security officials are making life and death decisions, the last thing they should be considering is whether they can personally profit. This bill puts an end to that corruption and disturbing national security risk."

"No one should be able to gamble on death and destruction, especially people connected to Trump with insider knowledge," said Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-12). "It's sickening that people just made millions of dollars by betting on the U.S. attacks on Iran and Venezuela. Congress must ban profiting from war and war crimes."

The bill is endorsed by VoteVets, American Economic Liberties Project, Win Without War, Americans for Financial Reform, Public Citizen, Groundwork Collaborative, and Center for International Policy Advocacy.

Background

Recent suspicious activity on prediction markets has raised serious questions about whether Trump administration insiders are using government secrets to make significant personal profit by placing anonymous bets on online gambling platforms. Prediction markets offer powerful government officials a perverse incentive to pursue policies that are in their personal financial interest, cratering public trust, and forcing Americans to suffer bad policies enacted for personal gain.

The opportunities for rigging prediction markets are not limited to government actions: any event where insiders know or can control the outcome in advance is ripe for abuse. Notably, prediction market bets on this year's Super Bowl Halftime Show that resulted in huge payouts were likely driven by leaks and inside knowledge. If prediction market CEOs succeed in their radical goal to "financialize everything," they will usher in a new dystopian reality in which everything in our lives is commodified. The BETS OFF Act would put a stop to these immoral bets and create real consequences for bad actors profiting off of death and corruption.

For full bill text click here.

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