As the regular legislative sessions in many states come to a close as we write this week’s “Letter From America”, several of this year’s most promising gambling proposals are quickly losing momentum on the legislative floor.
Yet amid the gloam, the Mountain West state of Montana may yet present a big kicker to the end of the law making season – with a proposed ban of sweepstakes sitting on the governor’s desk and awaiting final approval.
Montana: First To Ban Sweepstakes?
Montana–home to Rocky Mountains and the iconic Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks–looks set to become the first U.S. state to ban controversial sweepstakes casinos.
Senate Bill 555 has passed the House and Senate, landing on Governor Greg Gianforte’s (R) desk for the final sign-off. The governor has four days left to approve or veto the bill, which will make sweepstakes illegal.
SB 555 achieves this by specifically defining what constitutes illegal online gambling in Montana.
Here’s the relevant passage:
“[Internet gambling] includes online casinos, by whatever name known, which constitute internet gambling and therefore are prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, any platform, website, or application that knowingly transmits or receives gambling information, allows consumers to place a bet or wager using any form of currency, and makes pay-outs of any form of currency.”
iGF reached out to Governor Gianforte, who did not comment.
Legislative Round-Up
Meanwhile, in Florida, Senate Bill 1404–which aimed to ban sweepstakes and other forms of gambling outside of the Seminole Gaming Compact–died as the Sunshine State closed its legislative session for the year.
And in Hawaii–birthplace of President Barack Obama and this year’s hottest hope for legalising sports betting–the special committee failed to reach an agreement before sine die, the formal end of the legislative session, meaning lawmakers were unable to pass House Bill 1308.
The Future Looks Bright — For Kalshi
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has withdrawn its appeal against Kalshi, which–if successful–would have prevented election betting in the U.S.
The appeal initiated under the Biden administration has been dropped, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia agreeing to its withdrawal as of May 7.
Prediction market platform Kalshi launched in 2021 and gained prominence during last year’s U.S. presidential election — successfully predicting President Trump’s victory and trading over US$250.5 million (£189.3m) in “contracts” between October 4 and noon on Election Day, November 4.
The federal CFTC initially challenged Kalshi’s right to offer these contracts, but failed to prove their jurisdiction in court. They were appealing this ruling.
With the case dismissed, election betting has now got the green light.
NBA Joins Kalshi Outcry
As the rollback on the boundaries of regulated betting continues, the National Basketball Association (NBA) has joined the growing list of organisations raising formal objections to the CFTC about prediction market sports betting.
America’s biggest professional basketball league has expressed concerns over the lack of regulatory oversight of sports events trading on platforms like Kalshi.
The letter, signed by NBA Vice President Alexandra Roth, reads: “The integrity risks posed by sports prediction markets are more significant and more difficult to manage than those presented by legal, regulated sports gambling.”
And it continues: “The NBA’s support for legalised sports betting has long been underwritten by our view that sports betting is made safer–both for our fans and for our league–[if] it is legal and subject to robust, sports-specific regulation.
“[The CFTC´s] broad-based financial oversight does not include the kind of sports-specific controls and protections that are the hallmark of state sports gambling regulations.”
With last week’s CFCT-led roundtable on the subject cancelled and now the U-turn on election betting, it would appear that Kalshi is now on something of a roll.
Rise In Suspect Bets
On the topic of integrity in sports, the latest International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) report flagged 63 suspicious betting alerts in the first quarter of this year.
That’s three percent fewer than the 65 alerts in Q4 2024, but up 11 percent on Q1 2024.
The sports of Football/Soccer (31 alerts) and Tennis (9 alerts) triggered the most alerts.
Brazil (9 alerts) and Mexico (9 alerts) were highlighted for soccer/football incidents, some 58 percent of total incidents. The USA triggered 66.7 percent of all basketball alerts.
Which makes this edition of Letter From America a slam dunk!
