U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, is leading a coalition of his Democratic colleagues who do not want to see gambling on American elections legalized.
Along with U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, and Dianne Feinstein, D-California, Merkley sent a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) urging Chairman Rostin Behnam to reject a proposal from a private prediction market group that could allow for legal gambling on American elections.
A private predictions company known as Kalshi notified the CFTC in June that it wants to allow people to effectively gamble on election outcomes. Kalshi is a federally-regulated exchange where people can trade on the outcome of events, with the value of their shares increasing or decreasing depending on the probability of an event changing.
