Nevada Rep Targets Federal Prediction Market Ban Amid Democrat-Led Charge
Rep. Dina Titus has introduced plans for a federal legislative proposal geared toward proscribing sports-related prediction markets, posting particulars about what she referred to as the Fair Markets and Sports Integrity Act Tuesday on X. The Nevada Democrat mentioned the proposal is meant to forestall prediction market platforms from providing contracts tied to sporting occasions or casino-style outcomes.
If enacted as described, the measure would mark the primary federal laws explicitly framed round prohibiting sports-focused prediction market contracts quite than addressing narrower points akin to market integrity or insider participation.
Titus framed the proposal as a shopper safety and gaming-law enforcement effort, arguing prediction markets mustn’t circumvent state playing guidelines. The announcement comes as federally-regulated occasion contract platforms increase deeper into sports activities, prompting rising debate amongst lawmakers, regulators and the gaming trade over how these merchandise ought to be handled beneath present regulation.
Vegas politics, sportsbooks and prediction markets collide
Rep. Titus represents a Las Vegas-area district the place on line casino gaming and sportsbooks stay central to the regional economic system. Nevada regulators and trade stakeholders have warned that federally regulated prediction market platforms may compete with licensed sportsbooks with out complying with state gaming taxes or licensing guidelines, a priority that has more and more formed regulatory responses.
Titus’ invoice surfaces shortly after the Super Bowl, a key annual benchmark for sportsbook exercise. Nevada sportsbooks reportedly dealt with about $133.8 million in wagers, a 10-year low. At the identical time, Kalshi generated over $830 million in Super Bowl-related buying and selling quantity, highlighting the rising scale of prediction market participation (even when these figures should not immediately similar to sportsbook deal with).
Titus has pushed federal playing coverage earlier than, introducing the FAIR BET Act to restore the full tax deduction for playing losses after Congress lowered the allowable deduction to 90% of losses within the Republican-led tax and spending package deal dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” She argued the cap may push bettors towards offshore operators or prediction markets and hurt regulated gaming exercise, reflecting her give attention to defending authorized sports activities betting frameworks.
Nevada regulators are engaged in a sequence of disputes with occasion contract buying and selling platforms, together with Kalshi, Robinhood, Crypto.com and Polymarket, over their skill to supply sports activities markets within the state.
Nevada’s push in opposition to Kalshi has escalated just lately. In a letter filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit this week, the state legal professional common’s workplace mentioned it intends to provoke civil enforcement proceedings geared toward blocking the platform’s sports activities occasion contracts from being supplied in Nevada. The discover provides one other layer to the continuing jurisdictional conflict between states and federally-regulated prediction platforms.
Prediction market laws takes on political overtones
Efforts to limit or extra tightly regulate prediction markets within the U.S. are, up to now, being pushed largely by Democratic lawmakers at each the federal and state ranges. While the difficulty has not absolutely damaged alongside occasion traces, the early legislative sample suggests the talk is turning into more and more partisan.
At the federal stage, in addition to Titus’ invoice, latest regulatory pushes have largely come from Democratic lawmakers.
- Rep. Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat, launched the Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act, which might prohibit sure authorities officers and insiders from buying and selling occasion contracts. The bill focuses on ethics and market integrity considerations quite than banning markets outright.
- On January, 12 Democratic senators sent a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission urging solutions and potential regulatory motion on prediction markets, citing considerations about insider buying and selling, market manipulation, and their intersection with state playing regulation. Signatories included higher-profile lawmakers akin to Cory Booker and Richard Blumenthal, highlighting rising Democratic scrutiny of the sector.
- At the state stage, most legislative efforts to limit or extra tightly regulate prediction markets have additionally come from Democratic sponsors.
- Hawaii lawmakers, primarily Democrats, advanced legislation that will classify many occasion contracts as playing and prohibit markets tied to sports activities, elections and related outcomes, reflecting concern about how prediction markets match inside present playing statutes.
- In Illinois, Democratic Rep. Edgar González Jr. sponsored the ORACLE Act (HB 5059), proposing tighter controls on prediction markets, together with sure prohibitions and regulatory necessities geared toward shopper safety and transparency.
- Democratic New York lawmakers, together with Assemblymember Clyde Vanel and Sen. Jeremy Cooney, have launched similar ORACLE-style proposals exploring licensing and potential market restrictions as policymakers assess the intersection between prediction markets and present gaming regulation.
- Connecticut has examined guardrails round prediction markets by way of a proposal backed by Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont specializing in oversight measures like age limits and licensing necessities quite than outright prohibition.
In distinction, Iowa Senate majority chief Mike Klimesh, a Republican, sponsored legislation that will regulate and tax prediction markets quite than ban explicit market sorts.
Prediction market debates enter charged political atmosphere
The rising partisan slant round prediction market coverage comes amid heightened political polarization in Washington. With President Donald Trump remaining an influential determine inside the Republican Party and lots of GOP lawmakers traditionally favoring market-oriented regulatory approaches, early Democratic-led efforts to limit occasion contract buying and selling are starting to provide the difficulty a clearer political dimension.
That alignment remains to be growing, but when present traits maintain, prediction markets may evolve into one other regulatory battleground formed as a lot by partisan positioning as by monetary oversight or shopper safety considerations.
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