Dina Titus Urges Congress to Crack Down on Prediction Markets

Nevada Representative Dina Titus is pressing Congress to rein in prediction market platforms, warning that companies like Kalshi and Polymarket are bypassing consumer protections required of licensed gambling operators. Titus, co-chair of the Congressional Gaming Caucus, made the remarks Tuesday at the 19th Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking at Bellagio in Las Vegas. The UNLV International Gaming Institute hosts the conference every three years. It draws more than 500 researchers, regulators, and industry participants from over 25 countries.

Prediction Markets Called Unregulated Sports Betting

Titus argued that prediction market platforms offer sports betting in practice, regardless of what they call themselves. "States have set up licensing requirements and anti-money-laundering protocols, age verification, and responsible gaming," she said. "But these new efforts to get around that don't call for those types of protections. They call themselves sports events contracts, but if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's sports betting." She noted that the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing sports betting in 38 states and Washington, D.C., did not authorize prediction market platforms.

Their current federal regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, does not require the compliance safeguards that state-licensed operators must meet.

BetMGM Questions Prediction Markets on Compliance and Taxes

BetMGM Director of Responsible Gaming Rich Taylor echoed Titus at the same conference. He questioned whether prediction platforms are investing in compliance at all. "BetMGM alone has over 100 employees in our compliance department monitoring a variety of issues like AML, responsible gambling, integrity, etc. Can prediction markets say that they are doing the same thing?"

Taylor also pointed to tax obligations. "We pay our taxes as well," he said, adding that regulated operators contribute to state problem gambling treatment funds, something prediction platforms are not required to do. Taylor stressed that BetMGM believes "it's really important to carry our weight and contribute and take that obligation seriously because these are real human beings at risk."

Titus Bill Gains Senate Support to Regulate Sports Betting

Titus has authored the Fair Markets and Sports Integrity Act, which would bar CFTC-regulated platforms from offering contracts tied to sports or casino-style games without state licenses. The bill recently gained a Senate companion: the Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act, introduced by Senators Adam Schiff of California and John Curtis of Utah.

"The introduction of this legislation in the Senate is further evidence that awareness of the threats posed by unregulated sports betting is growing," Titus said. She added that the legislation aims to "protect consumers and ensure sports wagering revenues are properly directed to states to support education and other critical public services."