Hawaii lawmakers introduced legislation Monday that would explicitly ban prediction markets by defining them as illegal gambling under state law.
House Bill 2198 would amend Hawaii’s gambling statute to make clear that financial speculation on real-world events is gambling, even when those contracts are structured as securities or commodities. The bill, if passed, would take effect July 1 of this year.
The measure targets event contracts tied to sports, contests, people, politics, catastrophes, and death. Lawmakers say these products exploit a gap in Hawaii law that allows certain futures contracts while prohibiting gambling.
According to the bill, the legislature says recent financial products have “allowed for individuals to create financial incentives and motivations for the occurrence of events involving athletics, politics, catastrophe, and death.”
