WASHINGTON, April 22 -- Sen. Jeff Merkley issued the following press release:
Oregon's U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley-who has long sounded the alarm on election betting-released the following statement after prediction market firm Kalshi reported three instances of political candidates betting on their own elections:
"Election betting is a bad bet for democracy-plain and simple. Since 2023, I have been concerned about Wall Street firms setting up massive election casinos that could demolish the integrity of our democratic process by prioritizing money over the will of the American people. Now, we have seen the consequences of reducing our democracy to a horse race for the wealthy and powerful to bet on.
"Allowing election gambling with the ab...