Overview
- Kalshi rolled out technological blocks that stop politicians, athletes, and other potential decision makers from trading on related politics and sports markets, while Polymarket updated rules to ban trades based on stolen or inside information.
- A bipartisan Senate proposal from John Curtis and Adam Schiff would bar CFTC‑registered venues from listing contracts that look like sports bets, asserting that such wagers belong under state control.
- Congress is weighing a broader crackdown, with recent bills to ban death‑linked contracts, bar senior officials from trading, block federal officials from participating, and tighten rules on markets tied to military or democratic processes.
- Concerns over insider gains grew after reports that some Polymarket users placed large wagers before strikes in Iran and military action in Venezuela, raising fears that traders used advance knowledge of planned operations.
- States are moving on their own as Utah enacted a law that broadens the definition of gambling to include proposition‑style wagers, an effort described as keeping Kalshi and Polymarket out of the state.