A coalition of more than 50 gaming associations, tribal governments, and labor unions has sent a letter to the Senate demanding that the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act explicitly ban prediction markets from offering sports and casino-style event contracts. The letter, dated June 16, 2026, warns that without the ban, the bill could effectively legalize nationwide sports betting through CFTC-registered platforms—bypassing state, local, and tribal regulatory systems.
Coalition's core argument
The signatories—including the American Gaming Association (AGA), the Indian Gaming Association (IGA), and the hospitality union UNITE HERE—argue that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission lacks the authority and institutional know-how to police sports betting. “Gaming integrity frameworks built over decades are being undermined by prediction markets that ignore state, local, and tribal jurisdiction,” said AGA President Bill Miller.
UNITE HERE President Gwen Mills framed the issue differently. She called prediction-market sports betting a direct threat to workers' livelihoods, though she did not elaborate on specific job losses. The IGA, meanwhile, fears the Clarity Act could create a back door for sports betting nationwide, routing it through CFTC-registered platforms and eroding the tribal-state compact system that governs casino gaming on native lands.
The AGA claims states have lost about $1 billion in tax revenue to prediction markets since the start of 2025. That figure is disputed by prediction market operators, who have not released their own estimates.
The bill's path forward
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee on May 18 by a 15–9 vote. But the bill faces three hurdles: an unresolved ethics conflict, two competing committee texts that must be merged, and a 60-vote cloture threshold requiring bipartisan support in a narrowly divided chamber.
Senator John Hickenlooper, who sits on the Banking Committee, said the CFTC has no experience regulating sports betting and has failed to protect bettors from insider trading, market manipulation, and predatory advertising. His comments echo the coalition's concerns but stop short of endorsing a blanket ban.
Drafters have just nine working days before the July 4 recess to decide whether to add the anti-sports-betting language the coalition is pushing. If they don't, the bill could move forward without it—and the coalition's warning of a national sports-betting loophole would remain unaddressed.
Alternative legislation
Senators Adam Schiff and John Curtis introduced a separate bill in March 2026—the Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act, S.4160—that would bar CFTC-registered platforms from listing contracts tied to sporting events or casino-style products. That bill preserves state and tribal gaming jurisdiction as the governing framework, essentially doing what the coalition wants the Clarity Act to do.
But the Schiff-Curtis bill has not advanced beyond introduction. It's unclear whether the Senate will try to fold its language into the Clarity Act or keep the two bills on separate tracks. Either way, the clock is ticking: nine days until recess, and the coalition's letter is the loudest signal yet that the gaming industry won't quietly accept a patchwork solution.
