Titus talks tough
US Rep. Dina Titus has issued a scathing attack of prediction and event market betting in the US while urging the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to take action.
a “backdoor way” to legalize sports betting
The Congresswoman wants the CFTC to crackdown on the vertical, stating it offers a “backdoor way” to legalize sports betting across all US states.
Rep. Titus took to X earlier this week to share the letter she sent the CFTC warning Contract for Difference’s (CFD) were “ignoring […] state tax revenue rules and regulations:”
Titus criticized firms including Kalshi, Crypto.com, Polymarket, and Robinhood, which she said are offering CFDs “on sports outcomes in a stock market-style format.”
Direct conflict
Titus wrote CFTC Acting Chairwoman Caroline Pham that in 2025, multiple operators have started to offer CFDs. The contracts on sporting events, stated the Congresswoman, “bring this relatively new industry directly into conflict with state-regulated gaming operators.”
firms offering CFDs can sidestep state regulators
Titus’ appeal to the CFTC comes because CFDs fall under the federal body’s derivative trading remit. Which is the crux of the matter, because the firms offering CFDs can sidestep state regulators in legal sports betting jurisdictions.
A recent example of the conflict was expressed by a leading sports business media firm ahead of Robinhood and Kalshi’s short-lived Super Bowl LIX market. Front Office Sports stated while the firms’ carefully branded their Super Bowl market “event trading” it was “functionally the same” as gambling on sports.
London-based global betting and gaming consultants Regulus Partners, meanwhile, expressed the conflict in starker terms. “If CFDs can offer sports, then the states have just lost their right to regulate and tax sports betting.”
Titus, who represents Nevada and whose district includes the Las Vegas Strip, has long championed state control of sports betting over federal oversight.
States of balance
This week, Congresswoman Titus reasserted her faith in state regulators. She emphasized how her Nevada jurisdiction on other legal sports betting states have enforced “strict licensing and compliance measures for operators.”
Titus, who is outspoken on President Donald Trump’s policies, is making her voice heard despite favorable winds for the CFD market after recent political moves including the returning US leader nominating Brian Quintenz as CFTC head.