By Nick Devor
The prediction-market platforms Kalshi and Crypto.com are fighting back against state efforts to regulate their businesses via a new national lobbying group, the Coalition for Prediction Markets.
"The U.S. is the biggest frontier for prediction markets, and the momentum we're seeing makes a unified industry voice not just important, but necessary," Matt David, an executive board member of the coalition and chief corporate affairs officer at Crypto.com, said in a news release on Thursday announcing the formation of the group.
The organization will be "dedicated to preserving safe, transparent, and federally supervised access to prediction markets," the release said. The coalition is being launched "as several state casino regulators attempt to extend their authority into a space long governed under federal law," it said.
This week, gambling regulators in Washington state became the latest to oppose prediction markets. "Offering events-based contracts or participating in these markets is not authorized in Washington State," a state regulatory commission said in guidance issued on Tuesday. Barron's reported in March that Washington was investigating prediction markets.
The state joins a chorus of other gambling regulators and attorneys general across the country that have taken action. Some have issued cease and desist orders against prediction market platforms, while others, such as Massachusetts, have sued them.
The Coalition on Prediction Markets aims to fend off those state efforts, maintaining federal regulation of prediction markets' event contracts, which are overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. "The CFTC is qualified to oversee and regulate prediction markets, including those involving sports," the coalition's website says. "State casino regulators are now attempting to take that authority away."
Prediction markets that allow traders to bet on sports closely resemble traditional sports wagering. State regulators say those contracts are gambling and that operators should abide by the rules in their specific state.
"Americans deserve clarity, not 50 conflicting interpretations," Sara Slane, another coalition executive board member and head of corporate development at Kalshi, said in the coalition's press release.
Additional members of the trade group include brokerage firm Robinhood, which offers event contracts through a partnership with Kalshi; Underdog, a fantasy sports app that works with Crypto.com to power its prediction market; and the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. It is expected to launch a prediction market platform soon.
Polymarket, another leading prediction market, isn't a member, but "additional companies are currently in discussion to join the coalition, " Thursday's release said. Polymarket didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sports-betting firms DraftKings and FanDuel recently left the American Gaming Association, one of the largest gambling lobbying groups in the country, due to disagreements over prediction markets. Both DraftKings and FanDuel plan to launch their own prediction market platforms.
A spokesperson for FanDuel said the Coalition for Prediction Markets is "not something we're involved in." DraftKings didn't respond to requests for comment.
Write to Nick Devor at nicholas.devor@barrons.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 11, 2025 14:45 ET (19:45 GMT)
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