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Several media outlets have confirmed that gaming operator bet365 has left the American Gaming Association (AGA), an industry advocacy group that regularly publishes research promoting the benefits of sports betting.
bet365 is now the fourth major operator to depart the AGA, following FanDuel, Fanatics, and DraftKings. While none of the companies provided a specific explanation for their exits, industry analysts suggest the departures stem from the AGA’s aggressive stance against prediction markets.
The rise of event contracts and the threat to state tax bases
Over the past year, the AGA has been vocal in its opposition to sports “event contracts,” a common type of trading available through prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket. Under federal law, these contracts are classified as commodities trading—similar to buying and selling energy or metals—rather than gambling.
Consequently, these sites are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) rather than state-level gaming boards. This jurisdictional difference means prediction sites are not held to the same standards as sports betting platforms, particularly regarding responsible gaming protocols, which are a cornerstone of state sports betting laws but are less prominent in federal trading regulations.
Furthermore, states do not collect tax revenue from these trading platforms. The AGA estimates that states have lost more than $700 million in potential tax revenue because they cannot regulate or tax prediction markets under existing gaming frameworks.
Traditional operators view these platforms as a competitive threat, as they offer “contracts” that mirror sports wagers and allow betting on non-sporting events, such as political elections.
The transfer portal and politics: Betting’s new frontier
AGA President Bill Miller and Indian Gaming Association Chairman David Z. Bean criticized event contracts in a joint letter sent to Congress in January.
“We write to urge timely congressional action to address the explosion of unregulated sports event contracts being offered by prediction markets,” they wrote.
“Since these contracts, which are indistinguishable from legal sports betting, were launched last January, they have grown exponentially in trading volume and have expanded beyond the outcome of single games to include complex parlays and even potential wagers on the collegiate transfer portal.”
Pattern recognition: What bet365’s exit means for 2026
While the operators that preceded bet365 in leaving the AGA did not explicitly cite prediction markets as their reason for departing, all three have since launched their own prediction market platforms. Analysts suggest it is likely that bet365 will follow suit and launch its own platform by the end of the year.
