Ohio senator DeMora urges state sports betting laws for prediction markets
Ohio state Senator DeMora called Wednesday for state-level regulation of prediction markets including Kalshi and Polymarket, arguing Ohio's sports betting laws apply to such platforms. DeMora cited a recent court decision as solidifying that prediction markets are subject to state gambling oversight.
DeMora's framing gives Ohio's litigation the political cover of a legislator rather than a regulator alone. It also signals that state lawmakers, not just attorneys general, may join the push to classify prediction markets as gambling. That multiplies the fronts where Kalshi and Polymarket must defend their federal preemption argument beyond the courts to statehouses.
Each legislative endorsement of the gambling framing becomes template language other states copy, accelerating the patchwork Kalshi is already fighting in Ohio and Tennessee. The CFTC's pending swap-rule proposal remains in White House review, slower than both court and legislative clocks. Platforms now face legal spend across three timelines: state courts, state legislatures, and federal rulemaking.
DeMora joins Ohio's court and executive branches in pressing the gambling classification, deepening the multi-branch state pressure that Kalshi is already fighting in Ohio and Tennessee while the NFL's amicus brief gives state attorneys general a powerful commercial ally.