Gaming coalition lobbies Senate to ban sports prediction markets in crypto bill
A coalition of gaming industry groups, tribal lobbies, labor unions, and chambers of commerce is pressing the Senate to ban sports and casino-style prediction markets in crypto legislation. In a June 16 letter signed by 56 organizations, the coalition urged lawmakers to exclude sports event contracts from the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, arguing that such contracts would enable nationwide sports betting under a federal financial label while bypassing state and tribal gambling laws and weakening consumer protections. The lobbying push targets legislation moving through the Senate that would establish a regulatory framework for digital assets. The intervention adds traditional gaming interests and organized labor to a growing array of opponents facing prediction market platforms including Kalshi and Polymarket as they expand into sports-linked products.
Kalshi and Polymarket now face a federal legislative ban threat running parallel to the state court and CFTC preemption fights already underway. Any sports-contract prohibition folded into the crypto bill would override their CFTC registrations for those markets, forcing both platforms to geofence or drop the product vertical entirely.
The gaming coalition joins state attorneys general in Minnesota, New Mexico, and Kentucky alongside the CFTC's own preemption lawsuits in trying to wall off sports prediction markets, as both legislative and litigation channels converge on the same event-contract platforms.