Nevada’s Titus is latest to push back on prediction market wave
Nevada’s Dina Titus is in her seventh two-year term as an elected official in the house of representatives. As such, she has experience with following proper processes and protocols to get things done.
And in a letter sent last Friday (21 February) to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) acting chairwoman Caroline D Pham, Representative Titus took issue with prediction market operators offering a form of sports betting without going through all the proper processes and protocols.
“This year, platforms have started to offer contracts on sporting events,” Titus wrote about midway through her two-page letter, a copy of which she posted on social media. She was referring to the likes of Kalshi, Crypto.com, Robinhood and others. The platforms permit users to risk money, in a stock market-like format, on the outcome of the Super Bowl and other sports contests.
“Event contracts on sporting events bring this relatively new industry directly into conflict with state-regulated gaming operators,” Titus continued.
“Several troubling effects” with prediction markets
As a congressperson from not just a regulated gaming state but the gaming state with the longest history of legal sports betting and casino operations, Titus next got into the meat of her reason for writing to Pham and the CFTC, which regulates prediction markets:
“Permitting prediction contracts on sporting events has several troubling effects that the Commission should address before issuing any rulemaking. Prediction contracts on sports create a backdoor way to legalise sports betting in states that have not authorised it. The regulation and legalisation of sports betting have traditionally been dealt with at the state level in the United States.”
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