STOP Corrupt Bets Act of 2026

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4226 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4226

To amend the Commodity Exchange Act to prohibit certain event contracts 
             on prediction markets, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 26, 2026

 Mr. Merkley (for himself, Ms. Warren, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Van Hollen, 
and Mr. Whitehouse) introduced the following bill; which was read twice 
 and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To amend the Commodity Exchange Act to prohibit certain event contracts 
             on prediction markets, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Trading On Predictions and 
Corrupt Bets Act of 2026'' or the ``STOP Corrupt Bets Act of 2026''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN EVENT CONTRACTS.

    Section 5c(c)(5) of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 7a-
2(c)(5)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(D) Prohibition on certain event contracts.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Notwithstanding any 
                        other provision of this section, no agreement, 
                        contract, transaction, or swap involving any 
                        matter described in clause (ii) (or any index, 
                        measure, value, or data related thereto, or 
                        occurrence, extent of an occurrence, or 
                        contingency based thereon) may be listed or 
                        made available for clearing or trading on or 
                        through a registered entity.
                            ``(ii) Matters described.--The matters 
                        referred to in clause (i) are--
                                    ``(I) any political election or 
                                contest;
                                    ``(II) subject to clause (iii), any 
                                action taken by the executive, 
                                legislative, or judicial branch of the 
                                United States;
                                    ``(III) any sporting event or 
                                contest; and
                                    ``(IV) any military action taken by 
                                the United States or any foreign 
                                country.
                            ``(iii) Hedging.--The prohibition under 
                        clause (i) with respect to any matter described 
                        in clause (ii)(II) shall not apply to an 
                        agreement, contract, transaction, or swap that 
                        is used for hedging or mitigating commercial 
                        risk, as the Commission may determine by rule 
                        or regulation.''.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) notwithstanding the amendment made by section 2, the 
        intent of Congress in the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1 et 
        seq.) is the prohibition of the conduct prohibited by that 
        amendment;
            (2) for the purpose of preventing a Federal regulatory 
        structure that permits gambling, the Commodity Futures Trading 
        Commission should prohibit the availability for clearing or 
        trading on or through any registered entity (as defined in 
        section 1a of that Act (7 U.S.C. 1a)) any agreement, contract, 
        transaction, or swap (as defined in that section) that is not 
        used for hedging or mitigating commercial risk; and
            (3) nothing in this Act or any amendment made by this Act 
        preempts any State law that regulates or prohibits gambling or 
        gaming.

SEC. 4. GAO STUDY.

    Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Comptroller General of the United States shall--
            (1) conduct a study on--
                    (A) prediction markets, including--
                            (i) insider trading in prediction markets; 
                        and
                            (ii) the impacts on individuals aged 18 to 
                        20 years old of trading in prediction markets;
                    (B) additional types of prediction markets that are 
                not prohibited by the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 
                1 et seq.) (as amended by section 2) for the purpose of 
                preventing a Federal regulatory structure that permits 
                gambling, including by examining any agreement, 
                contract, transaction, or swap (as defined in section 
                1a of that Act (7 U.S.C. 1a)) that is not used for 
                hedging or mitigating commercial risk; and
                    (C) means Congress can use to address illegal acts 
                occurring in foreign prediction markets and in domestic 
                prediction markets committed by companies with a 
                presence in a foreign country and in the United States 
                to preserve the integrity of prediction markets; and
            (2) make publicly available and submit to Congress a report 
        describing the results of the study conducted under paragraph 
        (1), including recommendations to Congress to preserve the 
        integrity of prediction markets.
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