The Trump administration has proposed new federal regulations for prediction markets, which would largely leave the booming industry intact. The new rules, unveiled by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, would create a framework where federal regulators could further reign in some sports markets that are especially vulnerable to manipulation.

Details of the Proposal

The proposal would continue to allow most sports-related markets, but would create a framework for regulating certain types of bets, such as those on player injuries and officiating outcomes. The rules would also apply to so-called “first-pitch” contracts for baseball and markets about player ejections.

The CFTC chair, Mike Selig, stated that the proposal gives the Commission a durable, transparent framework to identify the contracts Congress directed them to scrutinize while letting legitimate markets move forward. The new rules appear to fall short of the regulations that many stakeholders wanted to see from the Trump administration.

State regulators, members of Congress, addiction counselors, casino industry lobbyists, and some sports leagues called for stricter rules, including raising the minimum age for prediction markets from 18 to 21 and banning prop bets on individual athletes. The proposal does not go that far, and most states have argued in court that all sports bets on these sites should be prohibited, arguing those bets are largely indistinguishable from gambling.

Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.