Congress bans candidates from betting on their own elections
H.R. 10732 — No Betting on Your Own Race Act · Filed by Donald Davis (D-NC) · Introduced Oct 5, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill prohibits federal candidates, their spouses, dependent children, and campaign committees from trading in contracts that pay out based on the outcome of their own elections. Violations carry civil fines of $10,000 per violation or three times the financial gain, whichever is greater. The bill also requires the Federal Election Commission to maintain a public list of all federal candidates and notify them of the prohibition when they file.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a straightforward prohibition on self-dealing in political contracts. It targets a specific conflict of interest (candidates betting on their own elections) and imposes civil penalties to enforce the ban. This is a narrow, focused anti-corruption measure.
What the text implies
- The bill creates a new regulatory burden on commodity exchanges and derivatives platforms to identify and block candidate accounts from trading in political event contracts, requiring them to cross-reference against the FEC's candidate list.
- The definition of 'covered person' extends to spouses and dependent children, potentially restricting their independent financial autonomy even if they have no involvement in the campaign.
- The 'indirect interests' provision (subsection c) casts a wide net, capturing scenarios where a candidate provides funds to another person who then acquires the contract, which may be difficult to detect and enforce.
- The divestment safe harbor (subsection e) allows candidates to hold contracts that become 'covered' after they declare candidacy, creating a window for candidates to acquire positions before the prohibition takes effect.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill removes a conflict of interest that could distort candidate behavior and electoral integrity. Candidates and their families would no longer have financial incentives to manipulate their own races or outcomes, protecting the integrity of federal elections and public trust in democratic processes.
Named in the bill
Federal Election Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Attorney General, Covered platforms (registered entities, designated contract markets, swap execution facilities, brok, Federal candidates, State and territory boards of elections
Where it stands
- Oct 5, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Oct 5, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on House Administration · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on House Administration”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (5,399 characters) on Oct 8, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress bans candidates from betting on their own elections” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr10732 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.