Wisconsin warns bettors about potential criminal charges

The Wisconsin Election Commission has issued a warning to bettors in prediction markets regarding elections, indicating that they could lose their voting rights and face felony charges. This directive comes due to the growing interest in forecasting exchanges, although monitoring these actions is proving complicated.

Legal Restrictions in Wisconsin

According to Wisconsin Statute § 6.03(2), it is prohibited for an elector in the state to engage, directly or indirectly, in any bet that depends on the outcome of elections in which they participate. Furthermore, Statute § 12.13(1)(a) classifies as a Class A felony voting without proper qualifications in an election.

"We want voters to understand that they cannot bet and vote in the same election," stated Meagan Wolfe, administrator of the WEC. The commission, while it cannot directly control betting on these platforms, emphasizes the potential consequences of these actions.

Strict Policy Against Prediction Markets

Various prediction market operators estimate that there are hundreds of thousands of users in Wisconsin. The state maintains a strict stance against these exchanges, exemplified when Attorney General Josh Kaul sued five prediction markets in April for offering sports betting without proper licenses. In May, Governor Tony Evers signed an executive order prohibiting government employees from exploiting confidential information in prediction markets.

National Context on Electoral Betting

Currently, twenty-three states prohibit electoral betting, and there is a push for Congress to make these prohibitions uniform at the national level. Additionally, the Stopping Online Predatory Betting Act (STOP) of 2026 aims to prohibit betting in electoral prediction markets nationwide.

"There are no federal laws regulating prediction markets for elections, although the STOP Act seeks to ban such bets," noted the WEC.

Election prediction markets present a new regulatory challenge. Historically, traditional bookmakers have avoided this terrain due to legal frictions in the United States.