Trump Jr. urges Republican state AGs to drop prediction market opposition
Donald Trump Jr., advisor to Kalshi and Polymarket, urged Republican state attorneys general not to oppose prediction markets and to leave regulation to the federal government, according to a New York Times report. The outreach comes as state and federal authorities battle over jurisdiction of prediction market platforms. The report did not specify which attorneys general were contacted or whether any changed their posture.
Trump Jr.'s intervention turns prediction market regulation into an intra-party Republican fight. State attorneys general who saw political advantage in attacking CFTC-licensed platforms as unregulated gambling now face pressure from a prominent party voice with direct financial ties to Kalshi and Polymarket. That splits the GOP coalition that had been united behind state enforcement.
For platforms, the stakes are concrete: state lawsuits and geofencing orders already force costly contract-by-contract compliance, and each new state front erodes the national-scale model. Republican AGs step back, Democrats may advance alone, shifting the partisan map of enforcement. The move also signals that the Trump family views prediction markets as a priority asset worth political capital.