Horsford presses Congress at G2E to curb prediction-market gambling

Rep. Steven Horsford has called on Congress to set clear rules for prediction markets, arguing at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas that platforms offering sports-related contracts as financial products threaten consumer safeguards, Nevada jobs and state and tribal authority over gambling.

Horsford said the expansion of such products required federal action while legal disputes continued in the courts. “When companies skirt gaming laws by calling sports bets financial products, they put consumers at risk and undermine the industry those workers depend on,” he said.

The Nevada congressman and Rep. Mark Amodei introduced the bipartisan Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act, H.R. 9856, on July 22. The measure would amend the Commodity Exchange Act to stop federally regulated trading platforms from offering sports betting and casino-style gambling as financial products, addressing what Horsford described as attempts to use commodities regulation to bypass state and tribal gaming oversight.

Horsford said a federal response should include protections against underage gambling, accountability for operators and support for people experiencing gambling harm. “Consumer protections must keep pace with the products people can easily access on their phones,” he said, adding that he would work across party lines to enact the bill.

A Senate counterpart, S. 4160, was introduced on March 23 by Sens. Adam Schiff and John Curtis, with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto as a co-sponsor. Both measures were referred to the congressional agriculture committees and remained there when Casino.com reported from G2E.

The G2E main-stage discussion also included UNITE HERE President Gwen Mills and Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation Chairman Rodney Butler, reflecting opposition from casino operators, labor unions and tribal nations. American Gaming Association President Bill Miller called the sector’s expansion “brazen encroachment,” while Indian Gaming Association conference chair Victor Rocha described prediction markets as “an existential threat to tribal gaming and tribal sovereignty.”

The appeal also follows warnings aired by New Mexico lawmakers last week, as we reported, that prediction markets could divert revenue from tribal gaming. Brookings has similarly argued that sports event contracts offered by Kalshi, Crypto.com and Robinhood operate outside the state and tribal regulatory scheme established under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

That framework, enacted in 1988, requires Class III tribal gaming to be permitted by the state, governed by an approved tribal-state compact and subject to tribal regulations approved by the National Indian Gaming Commission. Brookings said tribal gaming revenue reached $43.9 billion in 2024 and helps finance essential tribal government services.

Kalshi contests the regulatory premise. Kalshi, which has Commodity Futures Trading Commission approval to operate as a designated contract market, argues that the commission’s authority under the Commodity Exchange Act overrides the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Tribes and states have challenged Kalshi and other operators in litigation and amicus briefs, arguing that the contracts infringe tribal sovereignty or state gaming authority.

Nevada’s regulator began its campaign against Kalshi with a cease-and-desist letter on March 4, 2025. Kalshi sued in federal court later that month, and on April 9, 2025, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction barring the Nevada Gaming Control Board from enforcing state gaming law against the company.

The board subsequently brought state-court enforcement actions against Kalshi, Polymarket and Coinbase in 2026. State courts issued temporary restraining orders or injunctions preventing the companies from offering prohibited event contracts in Nevada, and the board moved on June 4 to hold Kalshi in contempt for allegedly violating a state-court preliminary injunction. Nevada regulators have also sought a daily penalty of $120,000 against Kalshi over allegations that it did not adequately block event-contract trading in the state.