MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | Walz Bars State Employees From Using Confidential Information on Prediction Markets

ST. PAUL, MN (July 29, 2026). Minnesota state employees will be prohibited from using confidential government information to wager on prediction markets under an executive order signed Tuesday by Gov. Tim Walz.

Executive Order 26-09 applies to state-agency employees, including the governor, lieutenant governor and agency commissioners.

It prohibits employees from using nonpublic data or confidential information obtained through government employment to benefit themselves, another person or an organization through participation in a prediction market.

The prohibition applies even if the employee does not make money from the transaction. It also covers attempts to obtain another benefit or prevent a financial loss.

Employees who violate the order may face discipline up to and including termination. Some violations may also carry criminal penalties under Minnesota law.

Prediction markets allow participants to wager on the outcome of future events through contracts whose value changes as expectations shift. Markets may involve elections, court decisions, wars, government actions, economic indicators, speeches, sporting events and other developments.

The rapid expansion of these platforms has raised concerns that government employees, campaign officials and others with access to information unavailable to the public could use that knowledge for personal advantage.

“An individual’s position in government should not and cannot give them an unfair financial advantage,” the executive order states.

The order encourages Minnesota institutions outside the governor’s direct authority to adopt similar restrictions. Those entities include the Legislature, judicial branch, independent elected officials, state boards, commissions, task forces and work groups.

The directive will take effect 15 days after it is published in the State Register and filed with the secretary of state.

Walz signed the order one day after a federal judge temporarily blocked Minnesota from enforcing a broader law that would have prohibited prediction-market operations in the state beginning August 1.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez issued a preliminary injunction sought by prediction-market operators Kalshi and Polymarket and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The challengers argue that federal commodities law gives the commission exclusive authority over the event contracts traded on their platforms. Minnesota officials maintain that the transactions function as gambling and can be regulated by the state.

The preliminary injunction does not resolve the underlying lawsuit. It preserves the existing market while the legal dispute continues.

Walz said state employees should not be allowed to profit from information acquired through public service regardless of the outcome of the broader litigation.

“State employees serve the public and shouldn’t make money off insider information,” Walz said.

The order reinforces Minnesota’s existing code of ethical conduct, which already prohibits state employees from using confidential information obtained through their work to advance private interests. It specifically applies that principle to a form of online wagering that has expanded faster than many existing government ethics policies.

The practical effect is narrower than Minnesota’s blocked statewide prohibition. It does not prevent ordinary residents from participating in prediction markets, and it does not reinstate the law placed on hold by the federal court. It regulates the conduct of executive-branch employees who possess government information that is not available to the public.

Sources: Executive Order 26-09; MPR News; FOX 9; Federal court’s preliminary-injunction order

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