Why this matters
Insider trading creates incentives for corruption, erodes public trust and risks turning public service into a private betting advantage.
Government, political and industrial insiders across the country have been profiting off sensitive information with the emergence of predictive gambling markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket.
Nine accounts cashed in more than $2 million betting on U.S. military action in Iran.
A member of the U.S. Army was arrested and accused of using classified information to win more than $400,000.
Three congressional candidates bet on the outcome of their own elections.
Predictive gambling allows people to bet on future events and the San Diego County Board of Supervisors wants to get ahead of it.
On Wednesday, the board voted unanimously to ban current and former county employees from trading on predictive markets, including but not limited to Kalshi and Polymarket, using nonpublic information or information tied to their official duties. The action also extended the ban on post-employment lobbying from one year to two years.
“At a time when corruption is running rampant at the highest levels of the federal government, the county must insist on the highest ethical standards for its own officials,” officials wrote in a board letter. “We owe it to the public to update our ethics code to address loopholes and new types of insider advantage so no one can monetize the relationships and information they gained while serving the public.”
The board’s vote on Wednesday directs Chief Administrative Officer Ebony Shelton to develop amendments to the county’s conflict of interest code to prohibit trading with insider information and require disclosure of predictive market trading on economic interest statements. The board also wants to extend the ban to former employees, prohibiting trades tied to matters a former employee personally worked on while with the county. Shelton is expected to return with a plan within 60 days.
Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, who brought the proposal forward, said the county isn’t aware of any instances of officials placing bets using nonpublic or sensitive information. But the county also doesn’t have any rules preventing it.
“I always think it’s better to have rules in place before something goes sideways instead of putting rules in place after things go wrong,” Lawson-Remer said.
She added that county staff and counsel will have broad latitude to come up with rules that make sense and decide who should be covered.
“A county employee who accepts a $50 gift from a contractor has to disclose it,” officials wrote in a board letter. “A county employee who uses nonpublic information gained on the job to profit on a betting app like Kalshi or Polymarket has to disclose nothing, because the rule was written before apps like this existed.”
Type of Content
News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
