Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond
OKLAHOMA CITY (May 4, 2026) – Attorney General Gentner Drummond is urging federal regulators to reaffirm that jurisdiction over sports-related prediction markets belongs to States.
Drummond and 40 other state attorneys filed a formal comment Thursday with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), arguing that prediction markets effectively have become unregulated sportsbooks. Prediction markets, such as Kalshi and Polymarket, are platforms where users trade contracts on the outcome of future events.
“This is unequivocally gambling, which means it belongs under State authority,” Drummond said. “States have long had the right and responsibility to protect their own citizens from the dangers of gambling, and that should continue to hold true whether bets take place on a prediction market or inside a traditional casino.”
Drummond and the coalition of attorneys general noted in Thursday’s letter that users can make all of the same wagers on prediction markets that they can make at a traditional sportsbook. “Any distinction between sportsbook bets and prediction-market bets is illusory,” they wrote.
Prediction market users can place wagers on game winners, point spreads and player statistics, bypassing the consumer protections and tax requirements mandated by state gambling laws. The coalition argued that the contracts are considered entertainment-based gambling rather than tools for financial risk management, meaning they fall outside the CFTC’s jurisdiction.
The attorneys general caution that sports gambling poses serious risks to public health and financial security, with millions of Americans qualifying as problematic or pathological gamblers. The coalition asserts that States – not the CFTC – are best equipped to protect their residents from the associated harms. They asked the commission to confirm through rulemaking that it lacks jurisdiction over sports-related contracts, ensuring that the power to regulate or prohibit sports gambling remains with States.
In addition to Oklahoma, the coalition includes the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Read the letter.
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