Securities Regulation Daily Wrap Up, EXCHANGES AND MARKET REGULATION—Bipartisan Senate bill would ban ‘backdoor‘ prediction market contracts on sports, casino games, (Mar 23, 2026)
Another bill has been introduced as Congressional unease grows over prediction markets relating to states’ authority, public interest issues, and overlap with traditional gaming.
A new bipartisan Senate bill has been introduced to prohibit CFTC-registered entities from listing any prediction contract that resembles a sports bet or casino-style game. The Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act would clarify regulatory jurisdiction and ensure that states can maintain their authority over sports betting and casino gaming.
In a press release, bill sponsors U.S. Senators John Curtis (R-Utah) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif) stressed the need to protect consumers and states’ authority to regulate gambling.
“The Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act is about respecting states’ authority, protecting families, and keeping speculative financial products out of spaces where they don’t belong,” said Curtis.
“It’s time for Congress to step in and eliminate this backdoor which violates state consumer protections, intrudes upon tribal sovereignty, and offers no public revenue,” said Schiff.
Need for legislation? The senators said that sports prediction contracts that are “indistinguishable from gambling” have rapidly proliferated on CFTC-registered entities over the past year “with next to no oversight or regulation from the CFTC.”
They cited a March Madness winner contract with more than $100 million in trading volume, and over $1 billion trading volume on 2026 Super Bowl prediction markets.
The senators said the contracts are listed in all 50 states—including states that have restrictions or prohibitions on sports betting, as in Utah where state law prohibits all forms of gambling. They are concerned that the contracts evade state and tribal consumer protections, generate no public revenue, and undermine sovereign tribal regulatory regimes.
They said the CFTC has abruptly reversed course from 15 years of enforcing its authority to prohibit contracts that involve “gaming.” Under current CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, the CFTC has supported prediction markets in ongoing litigation and has set the stage to potentially relax its regulations.
Curtis raised concerns about underage gambling.
“Too many young people in Utah are getting exposed to addictive sports betting and casino-style gaming contracts that belong under state control, not under federal regulators,” he said.
Bill provisions. The bill would add a new subsection to the Commodity Exchange Act to specifically prevent CFTC-registered entities from listing sporting and casino-style event contracts, as defined.
Sporting events would include any live or virtual contest involving physical activity or skill in which individuals or teams compete and performance determines an outcome or statistical result, including amateur, collegiate, and professional sports.
Casino games would include any game traditionally found in a casino, including slot machine games, video poker, blackjack, roulette, craps, any other casino-style table game, bingo, lottery, and any simulation of any of those games.
The bill expressly provides that its provisions do not preempt state law.
Other bills. The bill joins a growing list of legislative proposals aiming to limit various types of prediction market trading, including bills introduced by House Reps. Blake Moore (R-Utah) and Salud Carbajal (D-Calif), Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn), Sen. Richard Blumenthal, and another bill by Schiff, the “DEATH BETS Act.”
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