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- Nevada Representative Dina Titus urged a congressional committee to prohibit House members and staff from trading on political prediction markets.
- She argued that explicit ethics rules are necessary to prevent public officials from profiting off classified or non-public government information.
Rep. Dina Titus urged the House Rules Committee on Sept. 26 to back a House rules change that would bar House members, officers, and employees from participating in prediction markets tied to political events.
Titus, a Nevada Democrat, told the committee that political-event markets can let public officials profit from non-public information they receive through classified briefings, agency contacts, and legislative work before public announcements. She said the proposal, House Resolution 1248, is bipartisan and has 28 co-sponsors.
“Public service should never provide an opportunity for private financial gain based on privileged access to information,” Titus said. She added that “this concern is not hypothetical.”
Titus points to insider-trading examples in prediction markets
In her testimony, Titus cited recent cases she said show how prediction markets can be abused when traders have access to sensitive information.
One example involved wagers on whether Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro would leave office before the end of January 2026. Titus said one trader in that case was a soldier who was later arrested and charged with using non-public information to profit by more than $400,000.
She also referenced a White House teleprompter operator who, according to Titus, settled a federal investigation after regulators found he used advance access to President Trump’s prepared remarks to place wagers on what the president would say. Titus said the operator made more than $100,000 on the Calcio market.
Those examples were central to her argument that congressional ethics rules should explicitly cover prediction markets, particularly those tied to elections, legislation, and other government action.
Proposed House rule would mirror Senate restrictions
Titus told the committee that the Senate has already amended its rules to prohibit senators and Senate staff from participating in prediction markets. She urged the House to do the same by including her measure in an upcoming rules package.
“It would simply amend the rules of the House to prohibit members, officers, and employees from the House from participating in prediction markets related to political events,” Titus said.
The proposal’s next step was not detailed in the hearing clip published by Forbes Breaking News. It is also unclear from the source whether the House Rules Committee will formally include H. Res. 1248 in a future package.
For prediction market participants and industry watchers, the hearing signals continued scrutiny of political-event markets in Washington, especially where regulators or lawmakers see risks around privileged government information and ethics compliance.
Source: As reported by Forbes Breaking News.
