{"id":205415,"date":"2026-04-30T20:27:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T01:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=205415"},"modified":"2026-04-30T20:27:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T01:27:51","slug":"yost-urging-state-authority-over-prediction-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/04\/30\/yost-urging-state-authority-over-prediction-markets\/","title":{"rendered":"Yost urging state authority over prediction markets"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dave Yost and many other attorneys general say sports-related prediction markets belong under state authority. They’ve filed a\u00a0formal comment\u00a0with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. VW independent file photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

VW independent staff\/submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COLUMBUS — A bipartisan group of 41 attorneys general, co-led by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, is urging federal regulators to reaffirm that jurisdiction over sports-related \u201cevent contracts\u201d belongs to states.
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\u201cThis is gambling, no matter how they try to dress it up \u2013 and that means it belongs under state jurisdiction,\u201d Yost said. \u201cStates have a longstanding right and responsibility to protect their citizens from the dangers of gambling, whether it\u2019s on a prediction market or a casino floor.\u201d
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The attorneys general today filed a\u00a0formal comment\u00a0with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, arguing that prediction markets \u2013 platforms where users trade contracts on the outcome of future events \u2013 have effectively become unregulated sportsbooks.
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\u201cAny distinction between sportsbook bets and prediction-market bets is illusory,\u201d the letter says. \u201cOn so-called \u2018prediction markets,\u2019 users can make all the same wagers they can make at a traditional sportsbook.\u201d
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The platforms, including Polymarket and Kalshi, allow users to place wagers on game winners, point spreads and player statistics, bypassing the consumer protections and tax requirements mandated by state gambling laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Because the contracts are considered entertainment-based gambling rather than tools for financial risk management, they fall outside the CFTC\u2019s jurisdiction, the coalition says. The letter notes that gambling regulation is a state power under well-established case law.
 
The attorneys general caution that sports gambling poses serious risks to public health and financial security, with millions of Americans qualifying as problematic or pathological gamblers. The coalition asserts that states \u2013 not the CFTC \u2013 are best equipped to protect their residents from the associated harms.
 
The coalition\u2019s letter responds to a CFTC request for public comment on proposed rules for prediction markets. The states urge the commission to confirm through rulemaking that it lacks jurisdiction over sports-related contracts, ensuring that the power to regulate or prohibit sports gambling remains with states.
 
\u201cThe CFTC should recognize the limits of its power and affirm that states have the expertise, experience and tools to regulate sports betting as they have for more than a century,\u201d the letter says.
 
Yost is co-leading the coalition alongside the attorneys general of Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee and Utah. They are joined by Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VW independent staff\/submitted information COLUMBUS — A bipartisan group of 41 attorneys general, co-led by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, is urging federal regulators to reaffirm that jurisdiction over sports-related \u201cevent contracts\u201d belongs to states.\u00a0\u201cThis is gambling, no matter how they try to dress it up \u2013 and that means it belongs under state jurisdiction,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-205415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-topstory"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 04:33:47","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205415"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205416,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205415\/revisions\/205416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}