Senator Seeks Halt to Microbetting on Sports
David Genge Published 28/05/2026
U.S. Senator Brian Schatz is introducing a bill before Congress that would impose a ban on microbetting on sporting events if it were to be passed into law. Schatz, a Democrat and the senior Senator from Hawaii, describes micro prop betting as insidious, claiming that it's too easy for participants in a sports event to manipulate the outcome to the benefit of a sports bettor.
Micro prop bets, or microbetting, are wagers on minute outcomes within a sports event. It could be whether the next pitch in a baseball game is a strike or a ball, or whether the coin toss before a football game comes up heads or tails.
Senator Schatz believes that microbetting creates a path for easy manipulation
Proposition bets, or prop bets, are wagers based on specific statistical outcomes, events, or chance moments that occur within the framework of a game. However, these outcomes do not necessarily directly contribute to the result of a competition.
Microbetting reduces prop betting to minuscule moments within a game. And that's where Senator Schatz believes that the problems begin.
“Micro prop [bets are] insidious in that [they] can be manipulated by a player or anyone else,” Senator Schatz said in a statement. “The more micro you get, the more insidious it is, from an integrity standpoint. But it also taps into the addictive, manic, algorithmically-driven problem that we’re dealing with.
"I think this particular problem is especially acute and needs to be dealt with immediately.”
Schatz discussed the inherent dangers of microbetting
Schatz has discussed this issue with gaming experts who spoke to him and provided documentation of the vulnerabilities created by micro prop bets. There was also solid evidence of this impact in MLB. Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase is facing federal charges of rigging games. Accusations are that Clase was throwing suspicious pitches to benefit bettors in at least 48 games over two years. Bettors were placing microbets on the outcome of those pitches.
During an appearance on the podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out, Schatz was outlining what he views as the inherent dangers betting sites are creating through microbetting.
"When every in-game moment and outcome can be wagered on, it creates real risks,” Schatz said. “Integrity is essential to competitive sport, and recent allegations about gambling in the NBA and MLB have made it clear we need federal protections.
"We’re working on legislation to stop the kind of prop betting that gives a single bad actor the ability to manipulate a specific singular outcome for a big payout. This is about protecting fans and restoring public trust in sports.”
The Senator is also seeking harsher crackdowns on illegal offshore sportsbooks
Schatz is a senior member of the Senate Commerce Committee. He also plans to include calls for harsher crackdowns on illegal offshore betting sites. These sites continue to be popular with U.S. players.
The Senator wants to see laws implemented differently. He favors giving the Federal Trade Commission the authority to go after companies that knowingly facilitate illegal, offshore gambling.
“We think we, legislatively, have a pathway here," Schatz said. "It doesn’t solve every problem, and it certainly doesn’t solve every problem as it relates to the challenges that individuals and society [are] facing with gambling. But if you empower the FTC to go after the payment processors, then they would have a perfect right to go and say, ‘You may not work with these offshore shops if they are not complying with federal law having to do with micro prop bets.’”
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