Rahm Emanuel proposes banning all federal employees from betting on prediction markets - Federal News Network
Emanuel proposes broad federal ban on prediction market betting
Rahm Emanuel is proposing a sweeping ban on betting in prediction markets by federal employees and their families, framing the idea as part of a wider effort to confront what he describes as a culture of corruption in American politics.
The proposal would apply to leaders and employees across the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the federal government. Emanuel said that if elected president, he would create a division within the Justice Department to investigate such betting.
He said his focus on the issue intensified after concerns that people in Washington with inside information about national security plans may have profited from bets placed ahead of recent military action in Venezuela and Iran.
Concerns about insider knowledge
Emanuel argued that people with access to sensitive government information should not be able to profit from it through prediction markets.
“Somebody clearly with inside information inside the government was making bets, made money,” he said in an interview. He contrasted that with service members and others involved in national security work, saying they put their lives on the line while others may seek financial gain from privileged information.
He cast the proposal as part of a broader push to jolt Washington out of what he sees as growing tolerance for unethical behavior. “All of Washington has become so accustomed to this amorality and immorality and nobody says anything,” Emanuel said. “Washington needs a good power washing.”
Part of a wider political message
Emanuel, 66, is a former Illinois congressman, former White House chief of staff under President Barack Obama, former Chicago mayor and former U.S. ambassador to Japan under President Joe Biden. He is considering a 2028 presidential run and has been issuing policy proposals aimed at major Democratic debates.
Among those proposals are a mandatory retirement age of 75 for public officeholders, a ban on most social media use by children under 16, and options to address literacy. He has been taking those ideas to communities around the country, including places that do not usually draw early attention from presidential hopefuls.
Emanuel said he would prefer to work with Congress to enact the prediction market betting ban, but would consider executive action if legislation proved impossible. He said the goal is not simply to influence the political debate, but to force Washington to reembrace standards that once governed public life. “I put this out there because everybody else is walking around sleepwalking,” he said.