U.S. lawmakers are pressing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (U.S. derivatives regulator) to curb wildfire prediction markets after Polymarket took more than $1.2 million in bets on the January 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires in Los Angeles County, where firestorms killed 31 people and displaced families. California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, joined by seven other lawmakers, said contracts tied to containment dates, fire growth and destruction can commodify suffering and may create incentives for insider trading, arson or efforts to delay containment, while the CFTC is already weighing limits on markets linked to death, war, terrorism or assassinations. Polymarket said the letter reflected "a misleading narrative based on markets we haven't offered for nearly 2 years," and the company says it bans insider trading, records activity on-chain (publicly on a blockchain ledger) and has referred more than 90 accounts to law enforcement. The debate is widening as prediction markets, also called event contracts (yes-or-no wagers on outcomes), face lawsuits, congressional scrutiny and investigations tied to weather, politics and classified-information cases, even as trading volumes on Polymarket and Kalshi continue to rise.