{"id":15241706,"date":"2026-08-04T21:52:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T01:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/senators-demand-crackdown-on-wildfire-prediction-markets\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T22:33:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T02:33:40","slug":"senators-demand-crackdown-on-wildfire-prediction-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/senators-demand-crackdown-on-wildfire-prediction-markets\/","title":{"rendered":"Senators demand crackdown on wildfire "prediction markets""},"content":{"rendered":"

Several US senators have written<\/a> a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), inquiring about the agency\u2019s \u201cplans to crack down on prediction markets\u201d that offer \u201ccontracts for individuals to bet on wildfires.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOffering bets on destructive wildfires threatens to minimize communities\u2019 suffering, all so the rich and powerful can profit,\u201d wrote<\/a> the group of senators, who represent Oregon, California, Nevada, Minnesota, and New Hampshire.<\/p>\n

The document specifically cites that Polymarket hosted bets in January 2025<\/a> on the wildfires in Los Angeles, and it mentions another website which specifically accepts \u201csimulated bets\u201d exclusively on California wildfires.<\/p>\n

Read full article<\/a><\/p>\n

Comments<\/a><\/p>\n

Source: Tech – Ars Technica<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fire experts warn such markets could incentivize arson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15241708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[214],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15241706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15241706-gettyimages-2170814475-1152x648-1.jpg",1152,648,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15241706-gettyimages-2170814475-1152x648-1-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15241706-gettyimages-2170814475-1152x648-1-620x349.jpg",620,349,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15241706-gettyimages-2170814475-1152x648-1-768x432.jpg",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15241706-gettyimages-2170814475-1152x648-1-940x529.jpg",940,529,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15241706-gettyimages-2170814475-1152x648-1.jpg",1152,648,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15241706-gettyimages-2170814475-1152x648-1.jpg",1152,648,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15241706-gettyimages-2170814475-1152x648-1-998x648.jpg",998,648,true],"ignition_item":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15241706-gettyimages-2170814475-1152x648-1-670x446.jpg",670,446,true],"ignition_item_lg":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15241706-gettyimages-2170814475-1152x648-1.jpg",1152,648,false],"ignition_article_media":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15241706-gettyimages-2170814475-1152x648-1-510x510.jpg",510,510,true],"ignition_minicart_item":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15241706-gettyimages-2170814475-1152x648-1-160x160.jpg",160,160,true],"profile_24":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15241706-gettyimages-2170814475-1152x648-1-24x24.jpg",24,24,true],"profile_48":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15241706-gettyimages-2170814475-1152x648-1-48x48.jpg",48,48,true],"profile_96":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15241706-gettyimages-2170814475-1152x648-1-96x96.jpg",96,96,true],"profile_150":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15241706-gettyimages-2170814475-1152x648-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"profile_300":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15241706-gettyimages-2170814475-1152x648-1-300x300.jpg",300,300,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"news.iNthacity","author_link":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/author\/atombo\/"},"category_info":"Tech<\/a>","tag_info":"Tech","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15241706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15241706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15241706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15241707,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15241706\/revisions\/15241707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15241708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15241706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15241706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15241706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}