Everything's Bigger in Texas: Lt. Gov. Patrick Tells Lawmakers to Study Crypto and 'Prediction Market Gambling' Before Next Session

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick wants state senators to dig into crypto and prediction markets as part of the 2026 interim charges ahead of the next legislative session kicking off in January. Because nothing says "small government" like the state telling grown adults what they can do with their satoshis.

In a Friday announcement, Patrick's office laid out what committees should study in preparation for the next legislature. The #2 Texas official said the charges aim to "advance the priorities of Texas' conservative majority" — which now includes taking a hard look at prediction markets and digital assets. Apparently "don't mess with Texas" now extends to not messing with Texans' ability to bet on whether Bitcoin hits $200K before the session ends.

Specifically, Patrick is calling on 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" on elections. On the crypto front, he wants an evaluation of the state's "coordination with federal rules" on crypto and blockchain, plus an examination of crypto kiosks across the Lone Star state. Nothing like having the government investigate where you're buying your dips at 2 AM.

Texas maintains some of the strictest gambling laws in the country. Sports betting is largely restricted to casinos on Native American reservations and the state lottery. While gaming authorities in other US states have sued prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket over sports and election wagers, Texas wasn't among them as of Tuesday. Texas: where you can buy a Bitcoin ATM but can't legally bet on the Cowboys covering the spread.

The Texas legislature meets every two years and is scheduled to return for a 140-day session in January 2027. In the 2025 session, lawmakers passed a Bitcoin reserve bill that Governor Greg Abbott signed into law in June. So yes, the same state that made BTC a strategic reserve is now side-eyeing every Polymarket user in Houston. Very normal.

Patrick also included a study on AI's impact on the Texas workforce and economic competitiveness — timing that lines up with reports that Google would support a multibillion-dollar data center in Texas leased to Anthropic, a project expected to exceed $5 billion initially. Nothing like worrying about AI taking jobs while building a $5B data center to train the models. Texas is truly cooking.