The #2 Texas state official called on lawmakers to study โthe sudden inundation of prediction market gamblingโ as other jurisdictions take the platforms to court.
Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor and President of the Senate in Texas, has included a study of prediction markets and crypto and blockchain as part of legislative priorities for the stateโs next legislative session, scheduled to begin in January.
In a Friday announcement, the lieutenant governorโs office issued 2026 interim charges for Texas Senate committees to study in preparation for the next legislature. Patrick said that the charges were intended to โadvance the priorities of Texasโ conservative majority,โ including an analysis of prediction markets and digital assets.
According to the charges, Patrick wants lawmakers to focus on โclosing gambling loopholesโ by studying โthe sudden inundation of prediction market gambling and the exploitation of federal law to circumvent Texas gambling prohibitionsโ on elections.
As part of an initiative on financial technology, he called for an evaluation of the stateโs โcoordination with federal rulesโ on crypto and blockchain and examination of crypto kiosks in the Lone Star state.ย
Texas has some of the strictest laws in the country concerning sports betting and gambling, which is largely restricted to casinos on Native American reservations and the stateโs lottery system. Many gaming authorities in other US states have filed lawsuits against prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket over sports and election wagers, but Texas was not among them as of Tuesday.ย ย
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The Texas legislature meets every two years and is scheduled to return for a 140-day session in January 2027. In its 2025 legislative session, lawmakers proposed a Bitcoin reserve bill, which was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott in June.
AI is also under scrutiny as Anthropic plans Texas expansion
Among Patrickโs charges included a study of the โimpact of AI on the Texas workforce and its implications for economic competitiveness.โ
The notice came as reports suggested that Google would support a multibillion-dollar data center in Texas leased to Anthropic. The project, expected to exceed $5 billion initially, comes as many mining companies in the US are pivoting to AI and high-performance computing amid increasing mining difficulty and falling crypto prices.
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