Overview
- Polymarket activity has swelled to more than $90 million from roughly 370,000 users, while rival Kalshi says about $129 million is staked on politics and it bars wagers on direct military action.
- New York Representative Ritchie Torres introduced legislation to prohibit government employees from betting on events they could influence, citing corruption risks similar to insider trading.
- A widely reported Polymarket windfall of more than $400,000 on a bet that Nicolás Maduro would be ousted intensified questions about the use of nonpublic information.
- Legal experts warn that wagering on geopolitical violence may run afoul of the 1936 Commodity Exchange Act, which restricts contracts linked to terrorism, assassination, war or illegal acts.
- Access to Polymarket is blocked in more than 30 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Italy and Ukraine.