SerpApi.Org
Wisconsin voters could face felony charges and be disqualified from voting if they bet on elections through prediction markets, the state’s elections commission said on Tuesday.
“We want voters to understand that they cannot legally make a bet on an election and cast a ballot in that same election,” Meagan Wolfe, the administrator for the Wisconsin Election Commission, said.
“Voters who place bets on elections and then try to vote in that election may be subject to voter qualification administrative challenges,” the commission said, “and could also result in a referral to the District Attorney.”
Prediction markets rose in popularity around the 2024 U.S. presidential election. They’ve since been adopted in a range of areas. The contracts are a vehicle to, for example, hedge risk on swings in oil prices, but also allow for gambling on sports. Contracts tied to sporting events have faced growing scrutiny, including at a congressional hearing on Tuesday.
The burgeoning asset class is regulated at the federal level by the Commodity Futures Exchange Commission. The regulator didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Wisconsin’s announcement drew condemnation from Kalshi, the leading U.S. prediction market.
“If Wisconsin believes election markets certified by the CFTC are improper, then it should sue the CFTC—not try to prosecute voters and take away their voting rights,” said Robert Denault, Kalshi’s head of enforcement, in a post on X. “The Wisconsin Elections Commission should retract this guidance before courts are required to force them to do so.”
Polymarket, a rival prediction market, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Polymarket has a data partnership with Dow Jones, the publisher of Barron’s.
Write to Nick Devor at [email protected]
