Clock Ticking At Minnesota Legislature On Prediction Market Ban, Sports Betting Bill
With the 2026 Minnesota legislative session scheduled to end this month, a bill to ban prediction markets appears dead in the state House. A separate bill to legalize mobile sports betting also seems doomed with the clock winding down.
Recently, Senate File 4511 to prohibit prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket passed the state Senate on a 56-10 vote. However, it was referred on May 4 to the House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee, where it is expected to die, according to a published report. The committee does not have any meetings scheduled on this bill or any others, according to Minnesota House of Representatives website.
Any bill, including the one regarding prediction markets, must be approved in both legislative chambers before going to Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, for his consideration.
Meanwhile, Kalshi has suspended usage of its site by state Sen. Matt Klein, a Democrat from Mendota Heights. This occurred after Kalshi learned the state lawmaker bet on the outcome of his own bid to win the federal election for Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District. The company recently banned political candidates from wagering on the outcome of their own election. Klein is a cosponsor of SF 4511 to ban prediction markets in Minnesota.
Prediction markets, which allow online users to put money on the outcome of sporting events, election results, the weather and more, have come under scrutiny in states seeking to restrict them. Prediction market platforms are federally regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, not the states. Currently, that limits what states can do to prevent prediction markets.
At the federal level, the NBA, PGA Tour and NCAA are urging action to require prediction markets to raise the minimum sports-betting age from 18 to 21. Also at the federal level, the U.S. Senate recently approved a rule by Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, banning senators from trading on prediction markets. Kalshi and Polymarket praised the rule change.
In the U.S. House, Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Massachusetts, recently became the first member of Congress to ban his staff members from using prediction markets to place bets.
Bill To Legalize Sports Betting Stalls In Committee
With the clock winding down on the 2026 legislative session, SF 4139, a bill to legalize mobile sports betting in Minnesota, has been awaiting a hearing in the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee since March 23. It would require passage out of committee in both chambers and passage in the full House and Senate before going to the governor, a process that appears unlikely this late in the legislative session.
Under SF 4139, 11 sports-betting operator licenses would be issued to federally recognized tribes with licensed casinos. There are 32 tribal casinos in Minnesota but no commercial casinos.
Minnesota is one of only 11 states nationwide without state-regulated sports wagering available to bettors either onsite in casinos or on mobile devices such as cellphones, though predication market access is available in the state. Meanwhile, every state bordering Minnesota has state-regulated legal online sports betting. Efforts to approve sports betting have failed in previous sessions of the Minnesota Legislature.
