The civic record
Read. Follow. Verify.Ohio House Bill 887 prohibits public officials and employees from using prediction markets
Last action · May 20, 2026: Referred to General GovernmentSponsors: Sean Brennan and 3 others
Track this bill to get notified when it advances a stage. One tap to stop, anytime.
What This Bill Would Do
Ohio House Bill 887 prohibits public officials and employees from maintaining accounts, trading s, or assisting others on s. Top state officials and regulatory employees are further barred from holding financial interests or receiving compensation from prediction market operators. Violations are classified as a carrying maximum fines of ten thousand dollars and investigation cost recovery.
State workers and elected officials face criminal penalties, loss of office, and severe monetary fines if they engage in speculative trading or maintain financial ties to platforms.
- Prediction markets have grown rapidly as platforms where users trade contracts based on the outcomes of political elections, economic indicators, and news events. context
- Ohio public officials and employees are generally subject to state ethics laws overseen by the Ohio Ethics Commission or the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee. context
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Public officials and employees
Public officials and employees face new restrictions against maintaining prediction market accounts, trading event contracts, or assisting others, backed by misdemeanor penalties.
High-ranking state officers and regulatory employees
Officials such as the governor, legislators, and regulatory board members are barred from holding financial interests or receiving compensation from prediction market operators.
Appropriate ethics commissions
Ethics commissions gain authority to receive complaints, investigate violations, issue subpoenas, and report findings to prosecutors.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
What actions are public employees prohibited from taking under HB 887?
Are high-ranking state officials subject to stricter rules?
What are the penalties for violating the prediction market rules?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
Follow the record
Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.
Procedural history
2 actions- May 20, 2026HouseCommitteeReferred to General Government
- May 12, 2026HouseIntroducedIntroduced
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Expansion of Ethics Code to Cover Prediction Markets
The bill amends Ohio ethics chapters to explicitly integrate event contract trading and prediction markets into existing conflict-of-interest frameworks.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.legislature.ohio.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance65How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy40Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz35Current news / social attention level
Publisher tools