United States: Gaming

The CFTC has proposed comprehensive amendments to regulate event contracts on prediction markets, raising critical questions about where to draw the line between legitimate economic activity and activity contrary to the public interest.

On June 10, 2026, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) seeking public comment on proposed amendments to CFTC Regulation...

Prediction markets have emerged as one of the fastest-growing areas of online speculation, forecasting, and information-based trading.

Federal and state regulators are locked in a jurisdictional battle over prediction markets, with the CFTC asserting these platforms constitute derivatives trading under federal law while states argue...

The CFTC filed suit against Minnesota in federal district court on May 19, 2026, marking the agency’s sixth lawsuit in seven weeks against a state seeking to regulate or prohibit CFTC-registered prediction markets. Filed one day after Minnesota’s governor signed a first-in-the-nation ban into law, the complaint argues that the state’s criminalization of prediction market operators is preempted by the Commodity Exchange Act and violates the U.S. Constitution.

On May 13, 2026, a bicameral coalition of Democratic lawmakers—led by Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut in the Senate and Congressman Pat Ryan of New York in the House, and joined by several others—introduced the Let Kids Play Act, a sweeping piece of legislation that would effectively ban private equity from the youth sports industry.

The gaming industry is rapidly adopting AI systems across operations, from fraud detection to demand forecasting, but governance frameworks have failed to keep pace with implementation. With regulators expressing low confidence in their ability to oversee AI in gaming and only 20% of companies establishing dedicated governance roles despite 80% using generative AI, a critical gap threatens the industry's regulatory compliance and market integrity.

As part of Seyfarth’s 2026 Trade Secrets Webinar Series, our panel presented Protecting the House: Trade Secret Risks in Online Gaming, Sportsbooks & Predictive Markets, examining how the rapid expansion...

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has filed the first-ever criminal charges against a prediction market platform for allegedly operating an illegal gambling business, accusing the CFTC-regulated platform of accepting bets from Arizona residents on state elections.