Betting on November's U.S. midterm elections has already hit $133 million, surpassing the $92.4 million wagered during the 2024 congressional election cycle, the Anti-Corruption Data Collective said on Monday. The non-profit research and advocacy group forecast that total wagers on the 2026 midterms could reach $1.6 billion if betting activity accelerates at the same pace as it did in 2024. The data underscores the rapid growth of prediction markets, as rising retail and institutional adoption drives users to platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi, which allow betting on real-world outcomes ranging from politics and economics to popular culture. The breakneck growth has been accompanied by increasing regulatory scrutiny, with critics arguing that the platforms amount to gambling. The prediction market companies, as well as the Trump administration, have said they are financial markets, not gambling platforms, and that their contracts allow users to hedge against risks or trade on their views of future events. ACDC said it examined 7,466 markets related to the 2026 U.S. House and Senate r