Congressional Democrats Accuse Sportsbooks of Predatory Advertising
David Genge Published 15/05/2026
In a letter addressed to the leading sportsbooks, daily fantasy sports, and prediction market sites that are legal in the U.S. market, five Congressional Democrats accuse these sites of using predatory advertising to attract young customers to sign up with their sites. This letter was sent to the CEOS of 12 sports betting and prediction market platforms.
Each of the operators that are recipients of the letter is currently regulated at the state level as a sports betting operator or federally as a prediction market operator. The 12 CEOs were presented with 12 questions by the politicians. Answers to all of the questions were requested to be delivered no later than May 29.
Five different sportsbooks were targets
The five Congressional Democrats responsible for this letter are Reps. Valerie Foushee of North Carolina, Betty McCollum of Minnesota, Kevin Mullin of California, Paul Tomko of New York, and Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.
Blumenthal and Tonko also co-sponsored the SAFE Bet Act in Congress. This bill would change U.S. law to put into place federal regulations on the sports betting industry. If made a law, the SAFE Bet Act would prohibit sportsbooks from advertising during live sporting events. Bonus bets and other promotional offers from sports betting sites would be banned. It would be a requirement of sportsbooks to perform affordability checks on players wagering $1,000 with their site over 24 hours, or $10,000 through a 30-day time frame.
Regulating all legal sports betting in the USA is currently taking place at the state level.
Sportsbooks whose CEOs were receiving the letter included BetMGM, Bet365, Fanatics, Caesars, FanDuel, and DraftKings. Interestingly, all of those sportsbooks except Caesars combine to form the Sports Betting Alliance. That's the largest lobby group representing sports betting sites in the USA.
The letter accuses sports betting sites of predatory advertising
Especially concerning to the five federal politicians is advertising by sportsbooks that appears to be specifically aiming at a younger audience.
"We are particularly alarmed by the rapid normalization of online gambling among younger Americans and the targeting of this demographic through predatory advertising," the letter reads.
The letter writers feel that these "advertisements encourage speculative wagering among audiences particularly susceptible to messaging that exploits financial hardship and presents these wagers as a reliable pathway to financial stability."
Each of the five sportsbooks whose CEOs are recipients of the letter is facing accusations of following this pattern.
"Traditional sports gambling platforms have dramatically expanded their digital footprints," reads the letter. "Bet365’s 'Winning Is Everything' campaign alongside promotions from DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars, and Fanatics during March Madness reflect an industry-wide race to capture new customers.
A March 2026 study conducted by the National Council on Problem Gambling found that 65 percent of Americans surveyed admitted to participating in some form of gambling before the age of 21. A further study by Farleigh Dickinson University unearthed that 25 percent of men aged 30 and under wager on sports digitally, and that 10 percent admit to a gambling problem.
"As a result, men aged 18-24 are nearly twice as likely as the general public to report using at least one prediction market, sportsbook, or daily fantasy app in the past six months (26 percent vs. 14 percent)," the letter noted.
Politicians are also seeing prediction markets as culprits in this pursuit of the youth audience
It wasn't only sportsbooks that were feeling the wrath of the Congressional Democrat 5. Prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket, and the DFS site PrizePicks, also received the letter.
"While prediction markets and online sportsbooks may argue over their legal classification, we can all agree that they are functionally identical in their advertising strategies and effects on young Americans," the letter concludes.
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