Senate Hearing on Prediction Markets Is Tomorrow — What May 20 Could Mean for Sports Bettors

The Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Technology, and Data Privacy is holding a hearing titled “No Sure Bets: Protecting Sports Integrity in America” on May 20, making it the first time prediction markets have been formally placed alongside traditional licensed sportsbooks in a congressional policy discussion. Several bills targeting platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket are on the agenda, and the hearing could shape whether those platforms can continue offering sports event contracts in states that have not legalized traditional sports betting.

For sports bettors and prediction market traders alike, the stakes of this hearing are significant. Multiple pieces of legislation are competing for momentum, ranging from an outright ban on live-event wagering on prediction market platforms to proposals that would simply impose the same anti-money-laundering and consumer protection standards that licensed sportsbooks already follow. The outcome will determine what regulatory path Congress pursues in the second half of 2026.

What the Competing Bills Would Do

The most aggressive legislation is the Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act, which would prohibit live-event wagering on CFTC-regulated platforms entirely. A competing approach under the Prediction Markets Security and Integrity Act would require prediction market platforms to register with the CFTC and comply with the same regulatory requirements already applied to licensed sportsbooks. A bipartisan bill from Senators Adam Schiff and John Curtis takes a narrower approach, prohibiting CFTC platforms from offering sports event contracts specifically while preserving prediction markets for legitimate financial hedging products.

A coalition of 41 state attorneys general has written to Congress asking for clarity. The American Gaming Association, representing licensed casino and sportsbook operators, has lobbied aggressively against unregulated prediction markets, spending 30,000 in the first quarter of 2026 alone on the issue. Bettors in states without legal sports betting have been using prediction market platforms as an alternative, and if Congress restricts those sports contracts, that option could disappear. For context on which platforms are currently available, the state-by-state sports betting guide covers what is legal in each jurisdiction. Where prediction markets land in that landscape after tomorrow’s hearing could change significantly depending on what gains traction in Washington.