US lawmakers introduce bipartisan bill targeting prediction market event contracts

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers has introduced legislation to tighten oversight of prediction markets by banning several categories of event-based trading contracts.

The proposed Event Contract Enforcement Act was introduced by Blake Moore and Salud Carbajal, seeking to restrict contracts tied to outcomes such as sports, terrorism, assassination, war, elections and illegal activity.

The legislation would require the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to prohibit the listing and trading of those contracts on prediction market platforms.

Lawmakers said the measure aims to address concerns that loosely regulated prediction markets could expose the public to national security risks and enable insider trading on sensitive events.

However, the bill includes a provision allowing individual US states to opt out of the ban on sports-related contracts, effectively leaving the final decision on those markets to state governments.