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State of Play’s TL;DR
- Nevada lawmakers have introduced federal legislation that would ban prediction markets from offering sports-related event contracts.
- The bill would also bar contracts on casino-style gambling.
Nevada lawmakers this week introduced bipartisan federal legislation that would bar federally regulated trading platforms from offering sports betting and casino-style gambling contracts as financial products.
The proposal, called the Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act, was introduced by U.S. Reps. Steven Horsford and Mark Amodei.
According to the Las Vegas Sun, the bill is aimed at closing what supporters describe as a loophole that has allowed prediction market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket to offer event contracts tied to sports outcomes outside the state licensing, tax, and consumer-protection rules that apply to legal sportsbooks.
Horsford said the measure is about “protecting jobs, protecting consumers, and protecting the integrity of our gaming industry.” He also said the platforms have cost states more than $1 billion in lost gaming tax revenue.
What the bill would do
The legislation would clarify that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversees legitimate financial markets but not sportsbook-style wagering or casino games. It would prohibit sports and casino-style event contracts on federally registered exchanges while preserving bona fide hedging products, including weather and economic contracts, under federal jurisdiction.
The bill also includes language stating that federal law does not pre-empt state or tribal authority over gaming. That point is central to the argument from gaming regulators and casino operators that sports event contracts should not be allowed to bypass state sports betting and online casino laws.
A companion Senate bill was introduced in March by Sens. Adam Schiff and John Curtis, with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto listed as a co-sponsor.
Schiff said:
“Sports prediction contracts are sports bets – just with a different name.”
Amodei called the House measure a bipartisan effort to close “a federal loophole that allows sports betting to masquerade as financial trading.”
Why Nevada is pushing the issue
The Sun said Nevada authorities and courts have treated prediction market sports contracts as illegal, siding with regulators who say the products amount to unlicensed sports betting.
The push also comes as Nevada’s gaming industry argues that prediction markets are competing with licensed sportsbooks without facing the same compliance burdens. The Sun reported that Nevada sportsbooks took $133.8 million in wagers on Super Bowl 60 in February, while Kalshi reportedly saw a 2,700% year-over-year jump in Super Bowl-related contracts and more than $1 billion traded on those contracts.
The bill has support from the American Gaming Association and labor groups, including UNITE HERE and the Culinary Union. AGA President and CEO Bill Miller said the measure would “protect consumers, uphold state and tribal authority on regulating gaming, and stop so-called ‘prediction markets’ from offering backdoor sports betting.”
Based on reporting by the Las Vegas Sun.
