Robinhood CEO says states fight prediction markets to protect gambling tax revenue
Robinhood's CEO said states are fighting prediction markets to protect gambling-related tax revenue rather than for consumer protection. The comment, reported by Bloomberg, comes as Robinhood, Kalshi, and Crypto.com lost appeals for injunctive relief against the Nevada Gaming Control Board. The framing casts state-level legal actions against federally registered platforms as economically self-interested. Robinhood's chief executive cited a huge financial incentive driving state opposition. The remarks add a prominent industry voice arguing that fiscal motives, not public safety, underpin the regulatory pushback.
Robinhood's accusation arms Kalshi and Polymarket with a public counter-narrative they can deploy in court and in lobbying. If state opposition is framed as tax-protectionism rather than consumer protection, platforms gain rhetorical leverage against attorneys general and in any federal preemption fight. The CEO's Bloomberg platform ensures the claim reaches lawmakers and investors who shape regulatory risk pricing.
Kalshi already faces parallel state suits in Connecticut and Baltimore and a Supreme Court petition from New Jersey. Polymarket watches the same legal logic threaten its sports contracts. A widely aired charge that states prioritize revenue over safety complicates the political cover those attorneys general rely on.