SBC Summit Americas June 9-11 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, will launch a dedicated Prediction Markets Forum to explore a growing and debated vertical in U.S. sports betting.
Slated for the Breakout Stage on June 11, the forum will bring together operators, legal experts, and industry analysts to examine the rise of prediction markets, how sportsbooks are entering the sector, and the regulatory and integrity challenges shaping its future. The four-session program will be chaired by Patrick Everson, a sports betting analyst and Fox Sports contributor.
According to a news release, the surge in prediction markets can be traced back to the 2024 presidential election, which catapulted event contracts into the mainstream. Since then, DraftKings, FanDuel, and Fanatics have established a presence in the space, while platforms including Kalshi and Polymarket continue to gain prominence through high-profile athlete sponsorships and multi-year league deals.
A growing wave of lawsuits and enforcement actions from states and gaming regulators, combined with conflicting federal rulings, has left compliance obligations far from clear.
“Prediction markets will define the American market in 2026,” SBC CEO and Founder Rasmus Sojmark said in a statement. “But navigating the gray area between financial trading and traditional betting is creating real uncertainty for the sector. This forum will bring together the people who are shaping this space to help the industry understand what comes next.”
Kicking off the forum is the introductory session, Prediction Markets 101. Zucker Media Group President Dan Zuckern will trace how event contracts evolved from 19th-century economic hedging to their emergence as a potential billion-dollar vertical. Zucker will show how prediction markets function, why they have accelerated so quickly, and what their rise means for today’s gambling landscape.
How Sportsbooks Are Entering the World of Event Contracts will examine how major U.S. operators have expanded into the world of prediction markets. Dr. Laila Mintas, CEO of Dr. Mintas Consulting, Sporttrade Chief Operating Officer David Huffman, and Dustin Gouker, Founder of The Closing Line, will look at how and why the region’s biggest operators are making the move and whether state-by-state partnerships could prove essential in their strategy.
A Question of Compliance and Integrity will address the regulatory and compliance challenges facing prediction markets in the United States. Legal specialist Dan Wallach, Partner at Wallach Legal, will examine the regulatory framework governing event contracts and discuss the lawsuits brought by states and land-based gaming groups and the compliance challenges facing operators.
What’s the Future of Futures? will examine the long-term effect of prediction markets on the betting industry. Seton Hall School of Law Associate Professor Ilya Beylin, George Mason University Associate Professor Robin D. Hanson, and Chris Gerlacher, Prediction News Senior Political Reporter and Industry Analyst, will discuss potential consequences of Supreme Court scrutiny and what the future may hold for land-based operators opposing prediction markets and online sportsbooks seeking to integrate them.
Prediction markets also will be addressed on the Leaders Stage during The Current State of Prediction Markets in the US. Joshua B. Sterling, Partner, Milbank, and and Sporttrade CEO Alex Kane will examine how prediction markets are evolving across North America and how operators, regulators, and investors are responding to the rapidly changing landscape.
The Prediction Markets Forum is part of SBC Summit Americas’ two-day conference program. In addition to the Breakout Stage, delegates can attend sessions covering sports betting and casino, payments and technology, regulation and compliance, affiliation, leadership, and player protection across North and Latin America.
