Prediction market companies are expanding their lobbying footprint in Washington, D.C., where government officials have been slow to enter the escalating policy fight between the likes of Kalshi and Polymarket and traditional sports betting giants.
From April through June, the nation’s leading prediction market company, Kalshi, spent $500,000 lobbying federal policymakers on “matters affecting prediction markets,” according to new federal records. That’s more than the company has spent in a single quarter since first registering to lobby in July 2025.
Kalshi also hired a team of lobbyists at FTP, the firm formerly known as Forbes Tate Partners, to work on “issues related to legislation governing regulation of prediction markets,” according to a federal lobbying registration form filed last week. Kalshi did not respond to an email requesting comment on its specific lobbying activities or decision to retain FTP.
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Polymarket’s parent company, Blockratize, has a comparatively smaller federal lobbying operation. Blockratize paid Advocus Partners $90,000 during the second quarter to “provide strategic counsel and advocacy regarding development of digital asset policy and information markets.”
But the company is taking big swings in Washington, jumping back into the U.S. market after a yearslong ban for failing to properly register with federal regulators, which dropped investigations into the company this month.
One of the lobbyists on the Advocus Partners contract, Keaghan Ames, previously served as a senior policy adviser and counselor at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal agency that has shielded prediction markets from state-level efforts to regulate the industry.
In recent months, the CFTC has sued several states, including New York, Wisconsin, Arizona, Connecticut and Illinois, asserting the agency has the sole authority to regulate prediction markets.
The CFTC has also initiated rulemaking on the federal regulation of prediction markets. President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post on May 26 that it was “critically important” for the CFTC to maintain exclusive authority over prediction markets.
Olivia Chalos, the deputy chief legal officer of Polymarket, wrote in a statement to NOTUS that “a uniform federal framework serves the interests of responsible market operators and the participants they serve.”
Chalos also said Polymarket’s internal process for monitoring insider trading and other illegal activities has led to nearly 100 referrals to law enforcement to date.
In April, the Department of Justice charged an Army soldier with allegedly using classified information to use Polymarket to bet on the timing of the capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The bet netted the soldier $400,000, according to a Justice Department press release.
Kalshi has recently accused political candidates of betting on their own races and a White House teleprompter operator of betting on Trump’s speeches.
The Senate unanimously passed a measure in April banning members and their staffers from using prediction markets.
The House has yet to pass a similar ban, although Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wisconsin) introduced a bill last month that would bar members, their spouses and dependent children from betting on those platforms. And Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky), who chairs the House Oversight Committee, launched an investigation in May into the “Wild West” of insider trading on prediction markets.
Sports betting giants, for their part, have been fighting for state-level regulation of prediction-market sports contracts, which they argue is no different from traditional sports betting.
DraftKings spent $350,000 on federal lobbying efforts during the second quarter, pressing officials on a range of issues, including regulating prediction markets.
And FanDuel, which spent a combined $480,000 on federal lobbying between April and June, also retained FGS Global in May to lobby on “issues related to online sports betting.” One of the lobbyists on the account is Paul Poteet, a former senior policy adviser to Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
The American Gaming Association, a leader in the sports betting and casino gaming industries’ efforts to slow the expansion of prediction markets, estimates states have lost more than $1.2 billion in tax revenue as prediction markets have exploded.
The American Gaming Association spent $630,000 from April through June to lobby on a range of issues including “issues around events contracts on sports and prediction markets.” This includes House and Senate bills that would prohibit contracts on events including sports.
“Our advocacy work spans the full range of efforts to protect and defend the legal gaming industry on numerous important issues,” Dara Cohen, a spokeswoman for the American Gaming Association, told NOTUS in a statement. “That being said, our increased focus on ‘prediction markets’ is predictable as they are under fire for mocking congressional intent by operating as backdoor sportsbooks while evading state and tribal laws.”
Win for America, a super PAC, has raised $70 million from sports betting companies, including FanDuel, DraftKings and Fanatics Betting and Gaming, that it could spend in the 2026 midterm elections. And Kalshi executives, in particular, have been personally contributing money to the campaign accounts of various Democrats and Republicans, NOTUS reported this month.
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