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After more than $1.2 million in bets were placed during the 2025 Palisades and Eaton wildfires in Los Angeles, seven U.S. Senators, including California Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, are calling on prediction market platforms to stop offering betting markets tied to wildfires, arguing that the practice profits from disaster and could create harmful incentives.

"There's starting to be the ability to actually place bets on whether wildfires will occur, how quickly they'll spread. It's monetizing human suffering and potential harm to people," said Ann Skeet, senior director of leadership ethics.

Skeet said the practice raises concerns beyond ethics alone.

"We refer to it as perverse incentives, when someone's motivated to do something that is not good, not serving society. And certainly in this case, the ability to start a fire"

Ann Skeet, senior director, leadership ethics, quoted by ABC News 7.