"U.S. Senate moves to introduce bill banning sports betting on prediction markets such as Polymarket"

Legislative efforts to curb sports betting based on prediction markets in the United States are gaining momentum. As clashes persist between federal and state regulation, the debate over how to police the sector is widening.

According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 23rd, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and Republican Sen. John Curtis plan to introduce a bipartisan bill that would prohibit sports and casino-style contract trading on prediction-market platforms regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The legislation would restrict contract trading tied to the outcomes of sporting events on decentralized prediction platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket. Casino-style contracts involving slot machines, blackjack and poker would also be covered by the ban.

Schiff said that the CFTC is "effectively allowing these markets and even supporting their growth," adding that they are "becoming a channel to обход state consumer-protection frameworks, making congressional intervention necessary." Curtis likewise underscored the need for regulation, saying that "young people are being exposed to addictive sports-betting-like contracts."

Prediction-market platforms currently offer "yes-or-no" style contracts based on a wide range of events including politics, weather and culture, and a large share of actual trading is said to be concentrated in sports. This has also set up a competitive dynamic with established sports-betting operators such as FanDuel and DraftKings.

Tensions over regulatory authority are also continuing. While the CFTC argues the market falls under the category of derivatives and therefore under federal jurisdiction, some state governments are treating it as illegal gambling and moving to crack down.

Recently, Nevada obtained a court-issued temporary order banning the provision of sports, politics and entertainment-related contracts, while Arizona pursued a criminal case against Kalshi on allegations of operating unlicensed gambling. Kalshi, for its part, has continued litigation seeking to invalidate state regulations on the grounds of federal jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, the market is focusing on the possibility that this legislative push could determine the regulatory direction of the prediction-market industry.