- In a Friday announcement, Patrick’s office issued 2026 interim charges to Senate committees, directing them to study key policy areas before lawmakers reconvene.
- The LG asked lawmakers to stud “the sudden inundation of prediction market gambling and the exploitation of federal law to circumvent Texas gambling prohibitions,
In a major development, Texas Lieutenant Governor (LG) Dan Patrick has directed state Senate committees to examine prediction markets, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology as part of legislative priorities ahead of the state’s next session in January 2027.
In a Friday announcement, Patrick’s office issued 2026 interim charges to Senate committees, directing them to study key policy areas before lawmakers reconvene. Patrick said the charges were intended to “advance the priorities of Texas’ conservative majority.”
On prediction markets, Patrick asked lawmakers to focus on closing gambling loopholes by studying “the sudden inundation of prediction market gambling and the exploitation of federal law to circumvent Texas gambling prohibitions,” including those related to election wagering.
Texas has some of the strictest gambling laws in the country, with betting largely restricted to casinos on Native American reservations and the state lottery system. While gaming authorities in other US states have filed lawsuits against prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket over sports and election wagers, Texas was not among them as of Tuesday.
Commenting on digital assets, Patrick called for stronger coordination with federal cryptocurrency regulations and an evaluation of crypto kiosks operating in the state. The charges come as Texas continues to build out its position on digital assets. In its 2025 legislative session, lawmakers passed a Bitcoin reserve bill that was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott in June, making Texas the first US state to establish such a reserve. The state made its first $5 million Bitcoin purchase in November 2025.
Patrick’s charges also included a directive to study the “impact of AI on the Texas workforce and its implications for economic competitiveness,” a priority that arrives alongside reports that Google plans to support a multibillion-dollar data center in Texas leased to Anthropic.
The project is expected to exceed $5 billion initially, part of a broader shift among mining companies pivoting toward AI and high-performance computing amid rising mining difficulty and falling crypto prices.
Recently, several states in the US have spotlighted risks faced by prediction markets and engaged in coordinated regulatory crackdown on them.Earlier this week, a Nevada state court judge has issued a preliminary injunction against crypto exchange Coinbase, preventing it from offering event-based prediction contracts within the state.
