Pennsylvania’s Chief Gaming Regulator Has ‘Profound Opposition’ to Prediction Markets
Posted on: May 8, 2026, 11:31h.
Last updated on: May 8, 2026, 11:31h.
- Pennsylvania’s top gaming regulator strongly opposes sports contracts on prediction markets
- Kevin O’Toole says the CFTC should scale back what it allows prediction markets to offer trading on
Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board Executive Director Kevin O’Toole strongly opposes the so-called “lawful innovation” seen recently on federally regulated prediction markets.
O’Toole oversees one of the largest and richest state gaming industries in the United States.
Legal gaming operators in Pennsylvania generated gross revenue of $6.79 billion in 2025, the fifth consecutive year of record play. Only Nevada and New Jersey generated more gaming revenue from commercial operations.
Writing to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), O’Toole expressed his opposition to prediction markets offering trading on contracts involving sports, politics, and cultural events. O’Toole says he has “profound opposition” to the federal regulator doing a “complete 180” on what it has historically deemed appropriate for prediction markets.
The landscape has deteriorated. One cannot only wager upon sporting events but also on pop culture and political novelties such as whether a particular person will appear at the Met Gala, who will win Survivor, and whether President Trump will utter the phrase ‘Make Iran Great Again,'” O’Toole wrote.
“Just because the government may be able to do something, does not mean it should do something,” the top Pennsylvania gaming regulator declared.
Prediction Market Opposition
Under the second Trump administration, the CFTC has moved to expand what prediction markets holding DCM designations can offer trading on. Last year, platforms like Kalshi began running trading contracts involving sports outcomes, something many gaming regulators, attorneys general, lawmakers, and tribal officials say constitutes illegal sports gambling.
Trump’s hand-picked CFTC chair, Michael Selig, says the product offerings are “lawful innovation.” O’Toole disagrees.
“By allowing DCMs to masquerade as unregulated sportsbooks, the Commission has abandoned its historical mandate, ignored its own regulations, and actively endangered a highly vulnerable demographic of young adults,” O’Toole said.
Last December, the Council on Compulsive Gambling of Pennsylvania reported that prediction markets, accessible to anyone aged 18 and up, are fueling an increase in problem gambling among young people. Josh Ercole, the executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of Pennsylvania, said for the first time in history, the 18- to 24-year-old demographic is accounting for the most calls to the 1-800-GAMBLER helpline.
PGCB Shares Trump’s Concerns
Though the president has been favorable to prediction markets in his second term, Trump conceded last month that the “whole world … has become somewhat of a casino” when asked about the DOJ charging a special forces soldier for insider trading on a prediction market.
“The PGCB shares the concerns expressed by the president,” O’Toole wrote.
At the end of the day, the Board recognizes that DCMs are in business to make money, and it is in their best interest to broaden the scope of the prediction markets they may offer. However, what is equally true is that it is the responsibility of a regulator to evaluate various wager offerings for prudence,” O’Toole continued.
“With that said, and leaving aside questions involving the definition of a ‘swap’ and whether preemption applies, even if the CFTC can authorize these markets, it is not necessarily in the best interest of the citizens of this great country to do so. This is particularly true when a significant proportion of the market participants are at risk, and there are no barriers to their entry into the marketplace,” the regulator concluded.
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