Barrett Ramps Up Effort to Block Government Officials from Profiting Off Insider Information

Washington, D.C. - Last week, Congressman Tom Barrett (MI-07) co-sponsored the bipartisan Preventing Real-time Exploitation and Deceptive Insider Congressional Trading (PREDICT) Act (H.R. 8076) to prevent senior government officials from betting in prediction markets and profiting off insider knowledge. This comes just days after Barrett established a new office policy banning every member of his staff from placing bets on prediction markets involving government action, political activity, or any knowledge they may have learned through their employment.

"Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket are changing the betting landscape by giving Americans a place to wager on everything from the weather in Chicago to the winner of an election in Kalamazoo. They are also a breeding ground for potential manipulation and corruption," said Barrett. "The PREDICT Act gets ahead of this rapidly developing problem by banning high-ranking government officials - who are in the perfect position to influence outcomes - from betting on these under-regulated platforms and profiting off insider information. This bipartisan bill is a common-sense way to hold politicians in Washington to the same standard I hold my office to and begin the difficult process of rebuilding trust in government."

Specifically, the PREDICT Act would prohibit members of Congress, the president and vice president, cabinet members, judges, and other high-ranking federal officials from trading on the outcomes of political events, policy decisions, and other government actions.

This legislation comes after Kalshi uncovered three political candidates using the platform to bet on their own races and as police investigate possible tampering with a weather thermometer by a Polymarket trader who bet on a temperature surge. It also comes after a soldier was charged for using classified information about the planned arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro to place several bets in advance of the military operation.

The PREDICT Act is the newest addition to the first pillar of Barrett's Blueprint for a Better America: Restoring Trust in Government.

CLICK HERE to read the bill.

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