Senator Merkley criticizes court ruling lifting pause on election betting markets

WASHINGTON (KTVZ) – Senator Jeff Merkley issued the following statement Wednesday after a federal appeals court lifted a temporary freeze on election betting markets, a decision he said will immediately allow legal gambling in U.S. elections during The final verdict in the lawsuit is still pending.

The lawsuit is filed by Kalshi Inc. and challenges the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s decision to block the listing of U.S. election betting contracts, citing congressional oversight, for example.

“If we reduce our democracy to a horse race that the super-rich and big corporations can bet on, we are destroying the integrity of our democratic process and putting corporate profits over people.” This ruling comes nearly 30 days before one of the most consequential elections in our country’s history opens the door to this terrible practice.

“Betting on US elections is a bad bet for our democracy. Effective immediately, major Wall Street firms can open trading to the rich so they can bet millions on which party controls the House or Senate. And these people can then spend a lot of dark money attacking candidates and protecting their bets.

“Allowing big bets with the ability to put your thumb on the scale is like allowing bets on ball games where you also control the referee.” It’s corruption, pure and simple. And it is corruption that goes against the heart of our democracy.

“I will not stop advocating for congressional oversight to protect the voice of voters and the integrity of our elections.”

Today’s ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lifts the stay to allow legal betting on our elections while the court continues its final review of the case. Until that final decision is made, the integrity of our elections is at stake and there will be bets on the November election that harm the public and our democratic process.

Merkley introduced this Law banning gambling in elections– Laws designed to stop Wall Street from setting up vast markets in political betting that could influence and disrupt American elections while further undermining public trust in democracy. He also spoke in the US Senate to warn against efforts by Wall Street firms to exploit American democracy for profit.

Merkley previously called on the CFTC to reject Kalshi’s then-pending proposal to allow legal gambling on US elections and their results. He also led his colleagues in urging CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam to finalize and implement a proposed rule banning election betting. Last year, Merkley wrote an editorial outlining how legalizing election betting would undermine American elections.