Wisconsin warns prediction market customers face voting ban and felony risk
The state’s statute bars people who bet on elections from taking part in them.
US.- The Wisconsin Elections Commission has warned that residents who trade contracts on election prediction markets could face felony charges and be disqualified from voting in the same election. With Wisconsin’s a partisan primary coming up on August 11, commission staff have concluded that election-related contracts offered by platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket fall under a prohibition the Wisconsin Statute.
The commission said Wisconsin Statute § 6.03(2) bars anyone who has “made or become interested, directly or indirectly, in any bet or wager depending upon the result of the election” from participating. Intentionally voting while disqualified is a Class I felony.
The warning followed the bipartisan commission’s unanimous approval of a legal memo at its July 9 meeting.
“We are not able to police someone placing a bet on these platforms, but it’s important for voters to understand the consequences if they bet on an election outcome,” said Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe.
Kalshi is fuming. A company spokesperson said: “Kalshi has hundreds of thousands of users in Wisconsin. Implying they can’t vote because they use Kalshi is not only dishonest; it is voter suppression! If even a handful of our users in Wisconsin see this and get scared away from voting, that could EASILY swing an election.” The spokesperson added that the company hopes the commission retracts the statement.
A Polymarket spokesperson said the company would address the claims “through the appropriate legal process.”
Both platforms claim their products are federally regulated under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Wisconsin has separately sued Kalshi, Polymarket and others alleging that they offer illegal gambling, while the CFTC has sued the state asserting exclusive federal jurisdiction. The Ho-Chunk Nation has also sued Kalshi over sports-event contracts.
