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- Democratic Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate David Crowley proposed banning elected officials from participating in prediction markets as part of an anti-corruption package that also includes individual stock-trading limits and revolving-door restrictions.
- While no state has yet enacted a complete prediction market ban for elected officials, Crowley’s campaign pledge mirrors growing federal debate and congressional restrictions surrounding political trading and event-contract oversight.
David Crowley, the Democratic candidate for Wisconsin governor, said he would seek changes to state law that would bar elected officials from participating in prediction markets as part of a broader anti-corruption package.
The proposal matters for the gambling and event-contract space because it would target public officials’ use of markets tied to political and other outcomes, even as companies such as Kalshi and Polymarket remain part of a wider U.S. debate over how prediction markets should be regulated.
According to WPR, Crowley said he would include the measures in his first state budget if elected. Any such proposal would still need approval from the Wisconsin Legislature.
Crowley pairs prediction-market proposal with stock-trading limits
Crowley’s plan goes beyond prediction markets. He also proposed banning elected officials from trading individual stocks and requiring their investments to be held in diversified funds or blind trusts.
He further said he would push to bar energy companies from hiring former industry regulators for two years after they leave office. WPR reported that a bipartisan Wisconsin bill with revolving-door restrictions for utility regulators died in committee earlier this year.
Crowley also said he would end a provision in Wisconsin open-records law that does not require individual lawmakers to retain records. At a Monday press conference, he said, “Wisconsinites, the people who pay their public officials’ salaries, they deserve transparency. They deserve accountability for how their money is being spent.”
He added, “We have seen lawmakers try to hide how they spend taxpayer dollars on things that absolutely, in no shape or form, serve the public.”
Broader prediction-market debate reaches state politics
WPR said no state has yet enacted a complete ban on statewide elected officials using prediction markets, citing the National Conference of State Legislatures. The report also said Ohio has a proposal pending on the issue.
The Wisconsin proposal lands as trading restrictions tied to public office are also being debated in Washington. WPR reported that congressional stock-trading limits and prediction-market regulation are both active topics at the federal level, and that the Senate earlier passed a resolution prohibiting its own members from participating in prediction markets.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany said he shares Crowley’s goal of curbing corruption but “would go even further.” According to WPR, Tiffany called for a modernization of Wisconsin’s OpenBook program, tighter rules barring legislators from subcontracting with lobbyists, and a full audit of state government “to uncover waste, fraud, and corruption and make sure taxpayers are getting the results they deserve.”
For now, Crowley’s proposal is just that: a campaign pledge. The next thing to watch is whether he formally includes the prediction-market ban and related ethics measures in a budget proposal, and whether Wisconsin lawmakers take them up.
Source: As reported by wpr.org.
