Las Vegas Culinary Union backs congressional ban on sports prediction markets
The Las Vegas Culinary Union backed a congressional effort to ban sports prediction markets, warning that the contracts threaten 60,000 union jobs at Nevada casino resorts. Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge framed prediction markets as a direct economic threat to the state's gaming and hospitality sector. The union's support adds organized-labor weight to legislative moves against sports event contracts.
The Culinary Union throws 60,000 members and decades of Nevada political muscle behind a ban that already has bipartisan Senate and House bills. Kalshi and Polymarket now face a fourth front: labor lobbying in a state where casino interests shape federal races. For Kalshi, the timing is especially brutal.
It is already bleeding legal resources across five state fights while defending its federal shield at the Second Circuit. Congressional action could void sports contracts nationwide before any appellate court rules on preemption. DraftKings and Robinhood face identical exposure. The only reliable path now is a federal appellate win on preemption, but the Second Circuit has not scheduled arguments.
The Culinary Union joins a coordinated federal push that already includes a bipartisan Senate bill, a newly introduced House companion, and a congressional hearing held this week, with lawmakers moving faster than the CFTC's June proposal to allow sports contracts.