Prediction market companies Kalshi and Polymarket are ramping up lobbying and hiring well-connected operatives from both parties as they try to keep states from regulating bets on sports contracts as gambling, according to a report released by the advocacy group Demand Progress.
“State and tribal laws are one of the last lines of defense we have against predatory prediction market companies,” said Ella Fanger, corporate power policy advisor at Demand Progress. She called the companies “gambling websites that should not be able to evade sensible regulation” and said, “The government must reject this dangerous influence buying scheme.”
