State lawmakers weigh options to fight sports prediction markets at NCLGS meeting
Prediction markets dominated the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS) Summer Meeting in San Diego on Thursday. Lawmakers debated what state legislatures can do to counter sports prediction markets. A regulator warned that event contracts could open the door to nationwide online casino gaming outside state frameworks. A scholar predicted states are likely to win the legal battle over prediction markets.
The NCLGS meeting signals that state lawmakers are moving from isolated enforcement to coordinated resistance against CFTC-registered platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. A regulator's warning that event contracts could unlock nationwide online casinos gives legislators a political frame to justify stricter state action. The scholar's prediction that states will win the legal battle reinforces this momentum.
The CFTC's suit against Minnesota to block the first felony ban is the test case lawmakers are watching: if Minnesota survives federal challenge, more states will copy its criminal approach rather than regulate. Kalshi and Polymarket face multiplying fronts. Each new state fight drains legal budgets and forces geofencing decisions. The platforms built for federal scale now face patchwork survival.
State lawmakers are now formally coordinating resistance to CFTC-registered prediction markets alongside legislators in Minnesota, where the CFTC has already sued to block the nation's first felony ban, and New York, where a federal judge denied Kalshi's preemption injunction.