A screen displaying the logo and homepage of Polymarket, an American cryptocurrency-based prediction market platform, in Saint-Mande, east of Paris, on April 29, 2026.
Martin Lelièvre | AFP | Getty Images
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced Thursday that it will sue Rhode Island, one week after the state took action against two prediction market platforms.
This is the seventh state in which the CFTC has filed a lawsuit over a dispute over who has the right to regulate prediction markets.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha sued Calci and Polymarket last week, alleging that the companies violated the state’s sports betting laws through sports-related event contracts, a claim that other states have also made. However, the CFTC argues that the right to regulate these markets falls under the federal agency’s jurisdiction over swaps and derivatives, which includes event contracts.
“CFTC-registered exchanges face an onslaught of lawsuits seeking to limit Americans’ access to event contracts and undermine the CFTC’s sole regulatory jurisdiction over prediction markets,” CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said in a press release announcing the lawsuit. “This power grab ignores the law and decades of precedent.”
A total of 18 states currently have lawsuits over prediction markets. One of those states, Minnesota, is moving to ban them completely.
President Donald Trump said in a social media post Tuesday that it is important that the commission’s exclusive jurisdiction over prediction market regulation is maintained.
Although there are state agencies on both sides of the litigation over prediction markets, the CFTC is only pursuing cases with Democratic attorneys general. Rhode Island Attorney General Neronha is also a Democrat.
There was no immediate comment from the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office.
Disclosure: CNBC and Kalsi have a commercial relationship that includes customer acquisition and minority ownership.
Make CNBC your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted names in business news.
Source link
