As millions of Americans filled out brackets and tuned in for March Madness, something else quietly unfolded alongside the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments: a massive surge of sports betting on so-called “prediction markets.”

These platforms – operating under the guise of financial exchanges – have taken in hundreds of millions of dollars in wagers tied to March Madness outcomes. But unlike traditional sportsbooks, many of these bets were placed outside the guardrails that voters and lawmakers carefully put in place for other gambling platforms. That includes bets placed by minors under the legal gambling age in their state, and even by users in states where sports betting remains illegal altogether.

That should concern anyone who believes in states’ rights to regulate what goes on in their own backyards, the rule of law, and responsible governance.

Americans did not stumble blindly into legalized sports........

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