Gambling Associations Pressuring Congress to Tighten Prediction Market Regulations
Jesse M. Cox Published 25/05/2026
Both the American Gaming Association (AGA) and the Indian Gaming Association (IGA) sent a letter to Congress addressing the growing expansion of prediction market sites across the U.S. market. There's been an explosion in the number of sites over the past year.
Among the most significant concerns for both the AGA and the IGA are the sports-event contracts that prediction market sites are offering to players in states where legal and regulated sports betting is available. These organizations are requesting that Congress step in and confirm that state and tribal organizations are the ultimate regulators over any form of sports gambling.
The AGA and IGA are seeking the support and backing of Congress
AGA President and CEO William C. Miller Jr and IGA Chairman David Z. Bean wrote a joint letter that they sent to Congress. The letter addresses concerns that each association has with the rapidly expanding prediction markets across the USA.
The letter was a follow-up to the January 12 letter that the two organizations originally sent to Congressional leaders. Both missives expressed how sports event contracts being offered by prediction markets are hurting legal and regulated sports betting sites throughout the country.
“Each month that unregulated sports event contracts remain available nationwide, states and tribes lose significant tax and revenue streams that fund schools, infrastructure, and public safety, and consumers are exposed to products lacking the protections that accompany regulated gaming,” the letter read.
“Platforms continue to market and expand these products with increasing speed, even as state attorneys general, regulators, tribes, and other stakeholders have raised objections that the contracts violate state law and undermine tribal sovereignty.
“The harms presented by unchecked prediction markets are real and escalating, and momentum for congressional action is growing. The Senate recently adopted a rule prohibiting senators and Senate staff from trading on prediction markets, reflecting recognition that these products raise serious integrity and insider trading concerns."
The associations are accusing the CFTC of moving the goalposts in this ongoing battle
The federal Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is the regulator of prediction markets across the USA. They continue to argue that, as a federal entity, their rules supersede all state regulators. And the CFTC is continuing to put forth the belief that sports event contracts are trades and not gambling, and thus, not illegal sports betting.
The IGA and AGA dispute that notion. They also express worry in their letter to Congress about the CFTC's changing approach. is. They feel the CFTC is acting more like a bully against sports betting sites and less like the regulator of prediction market sites.
“In recent months, the CFTC has moved from passive facilitator - simply allowing platforms to self-certify sports betting contracts - toward actively rewriting its rules in an attempt to explicitly authorize these products," they state in their letter.
“The Commission has also now adopted an aggressive legal position against states - forcing them into costly, defensive litigation to protect voter-approved laws, regulatory regimes and tribal exclusivity.”
Gambling associations are fighting an uphill battle
Certainly, the landscape of this fight has been undergoing alterations since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. The Biden Administration prohibited prediction market sites from offering sports-event contracts.
The Trump Administration has torn down much of the regulatory framework surrounding prediction markets. Kalshi began offering sports event contracts in 2025. Today, the company estimates it draws 70% of its revenue from sports-event contracts.
Donald Trump Jr. also serves as an advisor to both Polymarket and Kalshi.