Federal Workforce and Regulation

Rahm Emanuel, the former Obama White House chief of staff and Chicago mayor now eyeing a 2028 Democratic presidential run, has unveiled a proposal to ban federal employees and their families across the executive, legislative and judicial branches from betting on prediction markets. In an interview with the Associated Press published March 22, 2026, he said he would also create a dedicated division within the Justice Department to investigate such betting if elected. Emanuel links the plan to concerns that people in Washington with inside knowledge of U.S. national‑security decisions may have profited from wagers placed ahead of recent U.S. military actions in Venezuela and Iran, calling this emblematic of what he describes as a broader culture of corruption in the Trump era. The betting crackdown is part of a series of proposals he has floated—alongside ideas like a mandatory retirement age of 75 for officials and bans on most social media for children under 16—as he travels to states like Michigan and Mississippi to test a potential national campaign message. The proposal highlights how prediction markets and legalized gambling are starting to intersect with ethics, insider‑trading, and national‑security concerns in federal policymaking.