Coalition warns unregulated "sports event contracts" are targeting young Americans and undermining state gaming protections

WASHINGTON, May 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Gambling Is Not Investing, a coalition of consumer advocacy organizations representing moms, retirees, family businesses, and other stakeholders, today released a letter sent to Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Technology, and Data Privacy Chair Sen. Marsha Blackburn ahead of the Subcommittee's hearing on sports betting and gaming integrity.

Mick Mulvaney, the coalition's executive director, raises serious concerns about the rapid expansion of sports betting through prediction market platforms operating outside the consumer safeguards and accountability standards required of licensed sportsbooks.

"Prediction markets are rapidly expanding access to sports gambling while operating outside the safeguards and accountability standards required of licensed sportsbooks," the coalition wrote. "By offering sports event contracts under the guise of 'trading' or 'investing,' these platforms are effectively creating a parallel sports betting market that lacks the consumer protections, responsible gaming measures, and regulatory oversight that states and tribal gaming authorities have spent years building."

The coalition warned that prediction market platforms are effectively lowering the age threshold for sports gambling from 21 to 18 in many jurisdictions, enabling individuals who are too young to legally place wagers through licensed sportsbooks to participate in betting on the same sporting events through so-called "sports event contracts."

About Gambling in Not Investing
Gambling is Not Investing is a coalition committed to stopping prediction markets from offering unsafe and unregulated sports event contracts that bypass state and tribal laws. We support responsible gaming, respect for state law and voter-approved frameworks, and clear, enforceable rules that prevent regulatory arbitrage from undermining public safeguards.

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SOURCE Gambling is Not Investing