Democrat U.S. Senator Brian Schatz is reportedly preparing to introduce legislation next year to put limits on sports prop betting after repeated gambling scandals in professional and college sports continue to break out across the country.
The news of the Senator’s effort comes from podcaster Pablo Torre, who recently revealed that the Democrat Hawaiian Senator is set to introduce a bill to curb prop betting and “restore public trust in sports.”
Prop betting — which is short for proposition betting — is betting on single events or bets on a particular player’s performance in ways un-tethered to the outcomes of games. This type of wagering allows gamblers to bet on how often a player might score, or how many touchdown passes, basket attempts, home runs, etc., a player might make in a particular game or season. Prop bets can cover a wide range of actions and outcomes in sports gambling.
According to Torre, Sen. Schatz is alarmed by the mounting gambling scandals in sports and hopes his legislation will address the problem, the New York Post reported.
“When every in-game moment and outcome can be wagered on, it creates real risks,” the Senator said in a statement. “Integrity is essential to competitive sport, and recent allegations about gambling in the NBA and MLB have made it clear we need federal protections.”
“We’re working on legislation to stop the kind of prop betting that gives a single bad actor the ability to manipulate a specific, singular outcome for a big payout,” Schatz added.
The Senator also claims that his bill will somehow affect foreign betting outlets, as well. But he did not mention specific sites by name, so there is no information about his views on prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket.
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