Democrats in the Senate are sounding the alarm about a grim realm of online betting in which wagers are placed on deadly scenarios, such as U.S. military activities and risky space missions.
In a letter sent to the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Monday, Democratic senators point to bets that have been placed on online betting platform Polymarket (which, coincidentally, also has a business relationship with the Trump family).
The letter to chairman Michael Selig followed a controversial video he posted last week announcing the Trump administration will attempt to block states from regulating prediction markets like the one Trump and his family launched last year.
“We are writing to express strong concern with prediction contracts that incentivize physical injury or death, and the grave and perverse moral and geopolitical implications of these contracts,” the senators wrote. “These contracts present dangerous national security risks, including creating incentives to incite violence, foment geopolitical conflicts, and disclose classified information. These concerns have already been realized in recent months as these contracts proliferate on exchanges.”
Signatories include Sens. Adam Schiff of California, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Catherine Cortez-Masto and Jacky Rosen, both of Nevada.
They specifically called attention to Polymarket wagers related to the ouster of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, the potential explosion of a NASA rocket known as Artemis II and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. My MS NOW colleague Sydney Carruth reported in January on insider trading concerns swirling around the Trump administration’s abduction and imprisonment of Maduro, which arose after someone won more than $400,000 from a Polymarket wager centered on Maduro’s capture. In the letter, the senators demand answers on questions such as whether the CFTC will deem death-related wagers counter to the public interest and move to prohibit them, and what guidance, if any, the commission can provide on wagers related to “war, terrorism, or assassination.” With the military industrial complex flush with cash and online gambling sites attracting millions worldwide, the mere existence of a violence-based betting market seems like various vices rolled into one — and with some serious social and geopolitical implications. That senators have questions about this market should come as no surprise.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog. 
