【borgata mgm login】Maryland challenges sports event contracts as CFTC roundtable nears

The borgata mgm loginMaryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission has told Kalshi, Robinhood and Crypto.com their sports contract offerings constitute unlicensed sports wagering, and given them 15 days to take them down.

The Free States’ Office of the Attorney General was cc’d in the letter, and may choose to act if the platforms keep the offerings in place.

The letter read: “Kalshi is operating in Maryland and is offering and conducting what is, in fact, wagering on sporting events.

“However, Kalshi does not hold a sports wagering license issued by the Commission, its wagers have not been approved by the Commission, and it is not otherwise authorised under Maryland law to offer wagers on sporting events.

“For reasons that include the foregoing, we direct Kalshi to immediately cease and desist these illegal offerings in Maryland.”

Maryland joins multiple sports contract challengers

Similar letters have now been sent to sports contract providers in six other states: Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Montana and Illinois.

Meanwhile, there are reports several other states are in the process of investigating the platforms including North Carolina, Michigan, Connecticut, Kansas and Arizona.

In response to this, Kalshi has launched legal proceedings against Nevada and New Jersey, highlighting event-based contracts are regulated federally by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

In both cases, the prediction market is seeking a Temporary Restraining Order that would allow it to continue offering sports contracts, with a hearing scheduled at 10:30 Pacific Time today to hear the matter in Nevada.

The legal battles are taking place concurrently with Kalshi’s separate lawsuit against the CFTC, regarding its political event contracts that dominated the discussion around prediction markets in 2024.

Despite the mounting legal pressure, Kalshi’s CEO Tarek Mansour struck a defiant tone in a recent interview with TechCrunch, saying he was “not concerned” about the cease-and-desist letters.

He told senior reporter Maxwell Zeff: “The real reason why states are sending us these cease-and-desists is because there’s a massive casino lobby that’s unhappy about this.

“The core of why we’re not necessarily very concerned is like, we are regulated the federal level… we’re basically under exclusive jurisdiction, like state law doesn’t really apply when you’re a federally regulated exchange.”

Will the CFTC change tack on prediction markets?

The news comes ahead of the CFTC’s prediction markets roundtable on 30 April, which will set the stage for how the US derivatives regulator treats the products going forward.

Many have highlighted the fact the incoming CFTC chair is a Kalshi board member, and that Donald Trump Jr. is an advisor to the business, as signs the regulator will move in a more permissive direction than in the past.

Under the Biden Administration the regulator cracked down on political event contracts but, despite backing from Democrats in Congress, federal courts ultimately allowed the activity in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election.

In a research note published today, analysts at Citizens JMP said prediction markets are now “too loud to ignore”, highlighting that the platforms present an opportunity for a new revenue stream and cross-sell avenue for the sports betting industry.

This, analysts Jordan Bender and Eric Ross argued, stems from the ability to increase liquidity over state lines.

While mainstream sportsbooks are yet to launch in the vertical, which Citizens said resulted from the continuing legal uncertainty, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins recently said he was “rooting for” the CFTC to permit the activity.

This followed reports the online gaming operator last year registered a business with the National Futures Association, called “DraftKings Predict”.

Sportsbooks could get in on action

The analysts said: “The signs are pointing to a positive ruling, in our view, and in that event the legality of prediction markets will pave the way for sports betting companies to build an offering and launch in the vertical.

“The infrastructure of an exchange slightly differs from a sports betting platform, and we would expect new entrants to initially rent or purchase existing platforms for speed to market.”

Meanwhile, the widespread rollout of sports contracts, which Citizens said whales, sharps and VIPs will be the main customers of, could push tribes and states without legal sports betting to the negotiation table.

Tribes have strongly opposed the offering of sports contracts, with much of the campaigning energy shifting to prediction markets from sweepstakes in recent weeks.

In February, the chair of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA) James Siva, submitted a letter to the CFTC strongly opposing sports contracts.

The letter said: “CNIGA strongly urges the CFTC to make it clear that Sports Contracts are prohibited from being listed or made available for clearing or trading.

“Trading of Sports Contracts is gaming, violates state and federal law, and is contrary to public policy for various reasons.

“Importantly, allowing Sports Contracts to be listed and traded will interfere with the sovereign right of tribes and states to exercise their police power to regulate gaming within their respective territories — a right long recognised by courts throughout the United States.”