Rep. Vasquez Keeps up Bipartisan Push to Regulate Prediction Markets and Crack Down on Corruption and Insider Trading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (NM-02) is renewing his push to close regulatory loopholes for prediction markets and ensure people are not using the platforms to profit off events that go against the public interest or take advantage of non-public information. 

Rep. Vasquez recently supported the bipartisan Event Contract Enforcement Act, a bill to prevent billion-dollar prediction market companies from profiting off unregulated bets on sports and certain world affairs. Specifically, the bill specifically prevents people from placing bets on terrorism, assassination, war, gaming, illegal activity, election outcomes, government activities, and other activities deemed to be “contrary to the public interest” on prediction markets.

Vasquez also sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth demanding the Secretary issue a general order prohibiting service members and Department of Defense employees from placing national security-related bets on prediction market platforms. This demand comes in response to troubling reports of service members illegally using prediction markets to leverage insider government information to place bets and profit on classified U.S. military action in places like Iran and Venezuela. 

“These are easy fixes to crack down on corruption and ensure people are not betting on things that are illegal, morally bankrupt, or erode trust in our institutions – including violence, war, or assassinations," said Vasquez. “Allowing prediction markets to continue evading meaningful regulation risks corruption, insider trading, and real harm to the Tribal gaming industry in New Mexico.”

Recently, Rep. Vasquez pressed Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Michael S. Selig during a House Agriculture Committee hearing, calling out event contracts as functionally indistinguishable from sports betting and urging the CFTC to focus on its core mission to ensure consumers are getting the protections they deserve.

Vasquez has been a leader in holding the CFTC accountable and calling for protections, integrity, and transparency in prediction markets.

• Vasquez first brought this issue up in a December 2025 House Agriculture Committee hearing on the reauthorization of the CFTC. He then fought for an amendment to close this loophole during the Farm Bill markup and protect Tribal sovereignty.
• Vasquez is a cosponsor of the Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act, a bill that addresses flagrant corruption to stop government employees from using insider information for personal gain on prediction markets.
• Vasquez pushed House Agriculture Committee Chairman Rep. Glenn Thompson to hold a roundtable on prediction markets affecting tribal gaming revenue.

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