The CFTC’s 45-day comment period on its landmark prediction market rulemaking closes July 27, just eight days after the World Cup final, as a record-breaking betting boom intensifies pressure on regulators to define the rules of the emerging industry.
The CFTC is suing Kentucky after the state’s attorney general sued Kalshi, Polymarket, and sweepstakes casino operator VGW, making Kentucky the ninth state to face federal legal action over prediction market regulation.
Kalshi has filed a federal lawsuit against Illinois, challenging a new state law requiring prediction market platforms to obtain a gaming license as preempted by the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC federal authority.
Mark Zuckerberg has assembled a small internal team to build “Arena,” a standalone prediction market app that would compete directly with Kalshi and Polymarket. The project is early-stage and may not launch, but Meta’s 3-billion-user reach would represent an unprecedented…
Prediction markets posted back-to-back record weeks, reaching $12.2 billion in weekly notional volume and $1.48 billion in open interest, with the World Cup driving nearly half of all sports-related trading activity.
House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil has introduced the Stop Lawmakers From Predicting Act, a bill that would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from placing bets on prediction markets tied to political outcomes or government policy.
Kentucky AG Russell Coleman filed three separate lawsuits targeting VGW, Kalshi, and Polymarket over alleged illegal gambling operations in the state — the most aggressive state-level action against prediction markets and sweepstakes casinos to date.
Nine European gambling regulators — from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland — have launched a coordinated crackdown on unlicensed prediction market platforms during the World Cup.
New Apptopia data shows Kalshi and Polymarket combined accounted for nearly 75% of sports betting and prediction market app downloads from June 1-15, as the World Cup drives younger bettors into the market at a record pace.
A coalition of prediction market platforms including Kalshi, Crypto.com, and Polymarket has filed suit against Kentucky over a newly enacted 14.25% excise tax they say unfairly targets their federally regulated industry.
The CFTC has sued New Mexico to block enforcement of state gaming laws against federally regulated prediction markets, continuing a nationwide legal battle with eight states now in federal court.
Former CFTC and SEC chair Gary Gensler has filed a legal brief in support of Ohio, arguing the Dodd-Frank Act was never designed to give the federal government authority over sports betting contracts.
