American Gaming Association (AGA) President and CEO Bill Miller recently wrote multiple op-eds for Midwestern state media outlets in which he stressed that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) was not intended to oversee anything that resembles sports gambling.
Sports events contracts such as those offered by the likes of Kalshi and Crypto.com are betting regardless of the label applied by the CFTC and derivatives exchanges, the AGA chief asserted.
In a July 9 editorial in the Kansas City Star titled “Prediction markets are just gambling. Kansas must regulate them that way
, Miller wrote that the CFTC was not intended to regulate gaming but rather has a mission “rooted in agriculture”. He cited former CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam, who opposed election-based contracts in 2024 and suggested that such offerings would see the CFTC move “well outside of its traditional areas of responsibility.”
“By stretching its mandate to cover prediction markets that mimic gambling, the CFTC isn’t just stepping on state authority — it’s stepping away from its core obligation to rural America,” added Miller. “Gambling laws should be made and enforced by the states that have built systems to it responsibly, not through financial loopholes within a federal agency straying from its core purpose.”
What’s in a name?
In a similarly worded second op-ed published on July 14 in the Des Moines Register and titled “‘”Don’t let prediction markets bypass Iowa’s gambling laws”, Miller argued that prediction markets allow trading on real-world events including sports “may sound like finance, but in practice, it’s sports betting by another name.”
“Calling it a ‘contract’ or a ‘derivative’ doesn’t change the core activity,” he added in the Iowa article.
“By positioning themselves as financial products rather than gambling wagers, prediction market operators are attempting to sidestep the very rules that protect Kansas consumers — and worse, conflating gambling with a wealth creation exercise rather than fun and entertainment,” he opined in the Kansas piece.
“This isn’t responsible innovation, it’s a clear attempt to skirt state gambling laws. Without strong guardrails, consumers are exposed to risks, the integrity of sports is threatened, and public trust erodes.”
Has anyone seen a round table?
Back in February, the AGA wrote to the CFTC to request that it be given a seat at a planned roundtable discussion regarding the CFTC’s position on sports event futures trading.
In the letter it sent to the CFTC on Feb. 20, the AGA reiterated its stance that sports futures contracts pose an unfair economic threat to sportsbook operators by mimicking gambling, do not provide consumer protections and threaten to violate state tribal gaming compacts. Miller pointed to the responsible gambling and tribal exclusivity impacts again in his op-eds.
The February letter, signed by AGA SVP of Government Relations Chris Cylke, said that the gambling industry trade association “has not taken a position on election contracts or others unrelated to sports” but emphasized that it and its members had strong concerns about the self-certification of sports betting futures.
That roundtable, initially announced in early February and slated for late March, was pushed back to an April date before being canceled quietly. During a meeting of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry on June 10, President Donald Trump’s nominee to succeed Behnam as the next permanent chair of the CFTC, Brian Quintenz, said he had no information on why the roundtable was abandoned and that he would be happy to reschedule it.
