Two U.S. senators plan to introduce a bipartisan bill that would prohibit sports betting and “casino-style” contracts on prediction markets overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), according to a Wall Street Journal report. The measure is expected to be filed Monday by Senators Adam Schiff and John Curtis.
Curtis said the proposal is aimed at protecting young people in his state, arguing that addictive sports wagering and casino-style products should be regulated by states rather than federal markets. The new bill would join other recent efforts in Washington to restrict certain types of prediction-market contracts amid heightened scrutiny over potential insider trading tied to the US‑Israeli conflict with Iran.
Schiff previously introduced the DEATH BETS Act on March 10, which would ban CFTC‑regulated platforms from listing contracts tied to war, terrorism, assassination or the death of individuals.
Sports-related markets currently account for a large share of trading on major prediction platforms. Dune data show sports contracts made up 47.7% of Polymarket’s weekly notional volume and 78.8% of Kalshi’s last week. That translated to roughly $1.2 billion in weekly notional volume on Polymarket and about $2.6 billion on Kalshi.
Regulatory pressure has been mounting beyond Congress. On March 12 the CFTC issued a staff advisory calling event contracts on prediction markets a “financial asset class,” and the agency published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking public input on how the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) should apply to these markets. Polymarket and Kalshi currently operate as CFTC‑regulated Designated Contract Markets (DCMs).
CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam (note: previously referred to as Michael Selig in some reports) has asserted the commission’s exclusive jurisdiction over such markets, but that claim has been challenged in court. An Ohio judge on March 9 questioned whether the CEA would necessarily preempt state sports-gambling laws or confer exclusive federal jurisdiction over those contracts. Separately, a Nevada judge last Friday temporarily barred Kalshi from offering sports, election and entertainment event contracts in the state for 14 days, concluding regulators were likely to succeed on the argument that those markets violate Nevada gambling statutes.
Cointelegraph contacted the senators seeking comment and a copy of the draft bill.