Sen. Jeff Merkley and Sen. Elizabeth Warren are among a group of lawmakers who are calling for an urgent ban on gambling on U.S. elections.
A letter published on Merkley’s website and signed by the likes of Warren, Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, urged the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and its chairman Rostin Behnam to implement a proposed ban.
In May, the CFTC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to further specify the types of event contracts that may fall outside the scope of the Commodity Exchange Act and the public interest. It also defined “gaming” in detail and included staking something of value on the outcome of a political contest.
Event markets such as Kalshi allow betting on future events like U.S. elections. Behnam said at that time that there has been a “significant uptick” in event contracts listed for trading on exchanges registered with the CFTC since 2021.
If approved, the notice would confirm that event contracts involving political betting could not be listed for trading or accepted for clearing by the CFTC.
Lawmakers say election gambling threatens democracy
Urging that change be made, the lawmakers’ letter to CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam warned that allowing betting on elections threatens to create political betting markets of a scale that could influence and interfere with elections. Citing high levels of violence and extremism in the U.S., the signatories argued that allowing betting on the outcome of elections is a danger to voters and democracy.
“As we approach the 2024 election, voters already face a political system that allows the richest individuals and corporations to funnel dark money into campaigns without disclosure,” wrote the lawmakers. “The threat of violence and extremism is high, and the U.S. remains a target for foreign actors who have sought to meddle in our elections.
“The last thing that voters heading to the polls need are bets waged on the outcome of that election. Voters need action, as proposed by the CFTC in this rule, to restore trust. Elections are not a for-profit enterprise. Without this rule, voters will wonder if their vote mattered, and the whether the outcome of the election was influenced by big-money bets.”
The lawmakers also stressed that the CFTC does not have the congressional mandate to regulate election betting, and added that more than a dozen states have already banned bets on election outcomes.
“Election gambling fundamentally cheapens the sanctity of our democratic process,” concluded the letter. “Political bets change the motivations behind each vote, replacing political convictions with financial calculations. Allowing billionaires to wager extraordinary bets while simultaneously contributing to a specific candidate or party, and political insiders to bet on elections using non-public information, will further degrade public trust in the electoral process. We urge you to promptly finalize and implement this rule to prevent the commodification of U.S. elections.”
The signatories of the letter are:
- Sen. Jeff Merkley
- Sen. Richard Blumenthal
- Sen. Chris Van Hollen
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren
- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse
- Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton
- Rep. Jamie Raskin
- Rep. John Sarbanes
Merkley has made similar pleas in past
This is not the first time that Sen. Merkley has tried to convince the CFTC to take action on election wagers.
A year ago, in August 2023, he led a letter to the commission to urge them to reject a pending proposal by Kalshi that could allow for legal gambling on U.S. elections and their outcomes.
That campaign was ultimately successful as the CFTC eventually disapproved of Kalshi’s proposal. However, there is a pending lawsuit between Kalshi and the CFTC challenging the decision.
Merkley has also been outspoken in the media on the issue. Shortly after authoring that previous letter, he wrote an op-ed for MSNBC predicting that ther 2024 election could be influenced by betting activity and warning that action must be taken.
