Senator Brian Schatz from Hawaii could be eyeing up introducing legislation that could see sports prop bets being heavily regulated in the United States.
The journalist Pablo Torre, of Pablo Torre Finds Out, took to X to share that he has gotten word from the senator that federal legislation may be proposed in 2026 to regulate sports prop betting.
Torre continued to say he has been told that the senator is talking with leagues and player associations, and sportsbooks, about federal legislation that will heavily regulate prop bets. He carries on to say: “I’m also told that Senator Schatz is aiming to ensure that illegal offshore sportsbooks are also captured in this federal legislation.”
Breaking: @PabloTorre has gotten word from Senator Brian Schatz that federal legislation may be proposed in 2026 to regulate sports prop betting in the United States pic.twitter.com/RMRU3e5eeo
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) December 22, 2025
This comes at a time when sports betting in the United States is booming, following a federal law being struck down by the Supreme Court in 2018 which would see sports betting to be legalized.
Prop bets in sports have caused controversy in recent times
While many have since adapted to this change-up and have brought in sports operators, the ruling didn’t legalize the industry across the U.S. but gave each state the right to decide for itself. Since then, there have been varying levels of adoption and the rise in the industry has led to player prop and microbetting becoming a new phenomenon.
Prop bets are when a customer places a bet on certain events within a game, rather than focusing on the final outcome. This type of gambling has been a controversial one, with many trying to curb its rise.
In November, the NFL sent a memo to team officials to say: “Accordingly, we have actively engaged with both state lawmakers and regulators, as well as with our sports betting partners, to limit – and where possible prohibited altogether – prop bets in the NFL.”
Earlier in the year, in August, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine urged the Casino Control Commission to prohibit prop bets. He asked them to remove them from the legal list of bets that can be placed under the state’s contractual rules for operators.
In a statement from Senator Schatz to Pablo Torre, he started by explaining how sports betting has grown into a billion-dollar industry, before then saying: “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. This is about protecting fans and restoring public trust in sports.”
ReadWrite has reached out to Senator Brian Schatz’s office for comment.
Featured Image: AI-generated via Ideogram
