Trump wades into GOP fight over prediction market regulation

President Trump is throwing his weight behind an effort to block state restrictions on prediction markets, as federal and state regulators vie for authority over the platforms in a legal dispute that has divided the GOP.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has brought cases against more than half a dozen states over their efforts to rein in prediction markets since April, arguing it has exclusive jurisdiction to regulate the sites.

But many Republicans, particularly at the state level, aren’t on board with this approach.

Trump argued Tuesday it is “critically important” for the CFTC to have exclusive authority over prediction markets, declaring that his administration is “setting ‘rules of the road’ that are the Gold Standard for the States.”

“We cannot have SCUM like [former New Jersey Gov.] Chris Christie, [New York Attorney General] Letitia James, [Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz, and [Illinois Gov.] JB Pritzker setting the rules!” he continued in a Truth Social post.

It marked a shift from his previous comments. Just a few weeks earlier, the onetime casino magnate suggested that “the whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino.”

“I was never much in favor of it,” Trump said, when asked about insider trading concerns on prediction markets.

“I don’t like it conceptually, but it is what it is,” he continued. “No, I think that I’m not happy with any of that stuff. But they have all these different sites. They have predictive markets. It’s a crazy world.”

Prediction markets offer users the chance to bet on a wide range of “event contracts,” which are tied the outcomes of everything ranging from sports games to military operations.

The White House is reviewing a CFTC proposal to regulate prediction markets, though little is known about the potential rules in play. A Tuesday filing with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) shows that a proposed rule is under review but offers few details about the rule itself.

The CFTC has taken an aggressive approach toward establishing itself as the chief prediction market regulator under Michael Selig, who was confirmed as the........

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