Pennsylvania County Bans Election Staff From Prediction Markets
David Genge Published 16/09/2026
A Pennsylvania county is banning election officials from trading on prediction market sites as the November U.S. midterm elections draw nearer. Delaware County, Pennsylvania, has adopted a policy that will address any employee prediction market activity. County officials were quick to point out that there's been no evidence of such use among the election workers. They see this as a preventative measure. It's designed to avoid financial conflicts and to protect workers from allegations. It will also serve to reassure voters that election workers are not swayed by their participation in prediction market outcomes.
Pennsylvania does not have state regulations that ban government employees from prediction market sites.
Pennsylvania officials don't want people handling ballots to be compromised
By moving for this ban, Delaware County, Pennsylvania officials insist that it is the most direct tool available to them to keep people who are handling ballots from the potential of being compromised. By wagering on prediction market sites on the outcome of elections, it may make it appear that these election workers would be trading on insider information to attain profitability.
"I don't want these prediction markets to infect our elections here in Delaware County," Delaware County's elections director James Allen told QZ.com. "They're definitely the newest and most existential threat to undermining faith in the elections."
Allen indicated that his office had come to the conclusion that prediction market trades are a form of gambling. This prediction market ban is covering some 2,200 election workers in Delaware County.
Delaware County is located just outside of Philadelphia.
An Arizona County is also following suit
In Arizona, Maricopa County is also instituting a ban on election workers playing prediction market sites. This ban covers more than 1,300 election workers.
The Maricopa County ban stretches beyond election outcomes. There's also a prohibtion on election workers in the county from playing prediction markets to trade on such outcomes as weather forecasts and court proceedings.
"When we implement a policy for our employees not to trade or bet on non-public information, that goes a long way towards showing people that not only are we working hard to maintain transparent elections, but also shows that we are being very aware of new technology," Thomas Galvin, a supervisor for Maricopa County, said.
Galvin also expressed worry that voters may confuse prediction market probabilities with election poll projections.
"Just because someone has a 98% chance of winning on a prediction market doesn't mean that they're winning in the polls 98 to 2," Galvin said.
There's no insider trading policy for Pennsylvania government employees
In Arizona, Governor Katie Hobbs signed an executive order restricting state employees from using nonpublic information to trade on prediction markets. However, no such legislation is in place in Pennsylvania.
Mary Fox, executive director of the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission, indicated that the state's ethics law would prohibit any public officials from using prediction markets to bet on election outcomes. That law bars elected officials and other public employees from using any information they are privy to as a means of enabling their own financial gain.
That's not good enough for State Senator Lindsey Williams. The Democrat from Allegheny reintroduced a resolution seeking to ban public employees from insider trading on stocks and prediction markets.
“It’s just a whole new area that we haven’t dealt with before,” Williams told ABC27.com. “The vast majority of people working for the state and working in public service are doing the right thing, and I’m sure are above board and would not be betting on these things. But also, we have to make sure that we protect against, you know, the ones who do.”