US Democratic senators urge ban on prediction market contracts tied to casualties

A group of U.S. Democratic senators is urging for sanctions against certain prediction market contracts that are directly linked to human casualties or threaten national security, CNBC reported. In a letter to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), six Democratic lawmakers, including Adam Schiff, argued that all contracts related to physical injury or death should be prohibited. They noted that while current law already bans contracts on terrorism, assassinations, and war, the prohibition should be expanded. The senators emphasized that such betting constitutes profiting from human suffering and also carries the risk of insider trading. As specific examples, they cited bets on whether the Artemis 2 mission would explode, whether the president of Venezuela would be ousted, and whether the Ukrainian city of Myrnohrad would fall.