Overview
- The Senate’s new rule takes effect at once and blocks senators and staff from wagering on platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi, which both said they already restrict congressional users and support the move.
- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged the House and the White House to adopt matching limits, while separate legislation from Sens. Todd Young and Elissa Slotkin targets the use of nonpublic information by officials who place such bets.
- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission closed public comments on its event‑contract proposal after more than 1,500 filings, as firms like Kalshi, Polymarket, Coinbase, and a16z backed exclusive federal oversight and state regulators argued these products function as gambling.
- The jurisdiction fight has moved to court, with the CFTC suing Illinois, Arizona, Connecticut, New York, and Wisconsin over state efforts to restrict markets the agency says fall under federal derivatives law.
- April scandals intensified scrutiny, including Kalshi fining and suspending three political candidates for betting on their own races and a DOJ indictment of a U.S. soldier accused of using classified details to make more than $400,000 on Polymarket, to which he has pleaded not guilty.