Overview
- The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the policy on Wednesday, applying to about 10,000 county employees who report to the Board and subjecting violations to discipline, possible dismissal, and potential referral to law enforcement.
- The resolution follows Governor Katie Hobbs’s executive order last week that barred some state executive-branch employees from using confidential government information to trade on prediction markets.
- County officials emphasized the action is preventive and not a response to known misconduct, saying the goal is to protect public trust in elections and other county operations.
- Legal and enforcement gaps remain because the Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversees many prediction markets and a federal judge earlier this year blocked the Arizona attorney general’s lawsuit against one platform, creating uncertainty about state-level remedies.
- Prediction markets have grown rapidly and firms say they monitor suspicious trades, so the county move could spur similar local rules while courts and regulators decide who can investigate and punish insider trading on these platforms.