Welcome back to the latest edition of Letter From America. We’ve got lots to catch up on, including New Jersey, where a putative World Cup betting levy has everyone up in arms; boardroom coups at FanDuel; often under-reported Nebraska and, what else, prediction markets.
NJ’s World Cup Betting Levy
In a shock move that’s united operators in collective outrage, New Jersey lawmakers have proposed a 10 percent surcharge on all World Cup betting revenue.
Senate Bill 4111 and Assembly Bill 4838 would impose temporary surcharges on hospitality and gambling services between June 12 and July 20, 2026.
The move is nominally designed to offset the US$300 million-plus (£222m) hosting costs for the eight World Cup matches scheduled to be played at the state’s MetLife Stadium, including the final of the world’s premier single sport competition.
The proposals have drawn quick bipartisan criticism, with Assemblyman Al Barlas (R) capturing the mood perfectly: “Changing the rules of the game after the fact is wrong.”
Battleground Nebraska
The Midwest fastness of Nebraska has quietly become one of the hottest political betting battlegrounds in America.
OSB market leaders FanDuel and DraftKings are spending big to get two sports betting measures onto the state’s November’s ballot, with each operator pouring more than US$2.5 million (£2m) into campaign efforts.
First task: Gather 125,000 valid voter signatures to qualify for the ballot. Then, get voters to approve them, legalising online sports betting for operators who partner with a local land-based racecourse or casino.
The race is on as lobbyists, campaign groups and industry stakeholders flood the state. But FanDuel and DraftKings are currently miles ahead when it comes to spending power.
Winning
Until now, Rhode Island has only allowed one online sports betting outlet–Sportsbook Rhode Island operated by IGT–but officials opened applications for a second licence earlier this year.
And Bally’s has wasted little time, securing its position of strength in the state by scoring Rhode Island’s second OSB licence. The site is expected to launch in November, once the state’s current exclusivity agreement expires.
Under Rhode Island’s revenue-sharing structure, the state receives 51 percent of revenue, the online operator gets 32 percent and the retail partner 17 percent.
Bally’s, which operates Rhode Island’s only casinos in Lincoln and Tiverton, will retain a 49 percent share.
Despite running as a single-operator market, Rhode Island’s OSB market still reached a respectable US$26.7 million (£19.9m) in revenue between July last year and the end of March.
Texas, California Lead PM Boom
Data from both Blask and Eilers & Krejcik Gaming show that prediction markets are gaining ground and that most of the action is happening in states where iGaming remains illegal – notably two of the biggest, Texas and California.
E&K Gaming’s prediction market monitor estimated that the U.S. sports prediction handle hit roughly US$2 billion (£1.6bn) in March 2026, representing around 11 percent of the combined prediction market and online sportsbook handle.
And then there is Kalshi.
Once viewed as a niche vertical, the platform is, according to E&K Gaming, “emerging as a scaled sports exchange, now ranking number four among U.S. operators on an adjusted handle per-adult basis”.
When Congress Calls
As scrutiny around the normalisation of sports betting continues to grow on Capitol Hill, Congress is calling on betting brands to provide more information on their safeguarding policies.
The list of companies asked to supply evidence spans prediction markets and traditional sportsbooks, including Kalshi, Polymarket, Robinhood, Fanatics and SidePrize, alongside bet365, Caesars, FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM.
The letter asks the heads of all these leading OSB brands to supply information about regulatory action, transparency around user demographics, current safeguards around preventing underage users, and details of internal controls and policies.
In total, there are 12 questions, with responses due by May 29.
And they’re likely to be a juicy read.
Ousted
Finally, the story that dominated last week: Flutter ousted FanDuel CEO Amy Howe, reportedly paying her US$4.37 million, equivalent to two-years of base salary, as part of her immediate exit package.
What caused the departure?
Officially, Flutter framed the move as part of a broader organisational restructuring.
Unofficially, attention is turning to prediction markets and growing investor nerves as the sector gathers momentum. There’s also the fact that FanDuel’s U.S. sports betting revenue only grew by one percent in 2025.
During a fireside chat with J.P. Morgan, Flutter CEO Peter Jackson acknowledged the pressure.
“We know we didn’t operate as effectively as we should have done… there’s a bunch of organisational changes that we’ve made, which I think really will sharpen our focus on execution and delivery.”
And the biggest change so far? Former Chief Legal Officer Christian Genetski stepping in as FanDuel’s new CEO.
Watch this space!
