Overview
- Gov. Katie Hobbs signed Executive Order 2026-02 on July 9, 2026, immediately banning executive-branch employees from using or disclosing nonpublic government information to trade on prediction markets.
- The order formally designates any nonpublic information that could be used to win or avoid losses on event-based markets as confidential and warns employees they may face dismissal or referral to law enforcement for violations.
- The ban covers most agencies that report to the governor but excludes agencies led by separately elected officials, the state legislature, and the judiciary, and Hobbs urged those entities to adopt similar rules.
- Prediction-market firms such as Kalshi and Polymarket say they already monitor for insider trading and have referred suspicious wallet addresses to authorities, while Arizona faces separate legal fights after an AG case against Kalshi was blocked and the CFTC sued the state.
- The move responds to recent federal incidents where insiders allegedly used privileged information to profit on markets and could change state ethics practice, though broader regulation of prediction markets remains tied up in ongoing litigation.