Gaming groups ask Congress to keep sports out of prediction markets
American gambling associations are lobbying Congress to restrict or block sports event contracts on regulated prediction market platforms. The effort, reported June 22, 2026, seeks federal legislative intervention rather than relying on state-level enforcement actions. The associations are using existing legislative channels to press for limits on sports-related trading. The move adds a third front—Congressional—to the running conflict over whether CFTC-regulated event contracts on sports games constitute illegal gambling under state law or permissible derivatives trading under federal commodities regulation.
The Congressional lobbying adds a legislative threat to the state enforcement and federal rulemaking already bearing down on Kalshi and Polymarket. A federal statute banning sports event contracts would override CFTC jurisdiction entirely and force both platforms to delist their most-traded markets.
The lobbying push lands while CFTC proposes first formal prediction market rules and as Kentucky, New Mexico, and Minnesota pursue state-level enforcement against the same sports contracts.