STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 1108-26
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2026
RE: H.B. No. 2198
H.D. 2
Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura
Speaker, House of Representatives
Thirty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2026
State of Hawaii
Madame:
Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2198, H.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PREDICTION MARKETS,"
begs leave to report as follows:
Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu; Stop Predatory Gambling; Nation of Hawaiʻi; Hawaii Family Forum; Institute for Human Services; No Gamble Hawaiʻi; and numerous individuals.
Your Committee finds that "prediction markets", platforms that allow individuals to wager on real-world events involving sports, politics, natural disasters, public health crises, and even the lives of individual people, have emerged. Your Committee further finds that although marketed as innovative financial products, these markets function as gambling systems often built on human suffering, political instability, and catastrophic events. This measure provides safeguards by prohibiting gambling in this growing form.
Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2198, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2198, H.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,
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____________________________ DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair |
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