Buying contracts on prediction markets is just another word for “gambling,” says former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who is leading a coalition that wants state authorities, not a federal commodities agency, to regulate that growing industry.
“The simple answer is that it’s gambling. It just is,” Mulvaney told CNBC’s Contessa Brewer, saying the burgeoning industry needs extra scrutiny following betting activity ahead of the Iran war.
“I buy a prediction contract, whatever that is, on the Lakers winning the basketball game. If you ask any ordinary human being if that’s sports gambling, it absolutely is, they would think that it is,” said the former South Carolina Republican congressman.
Mulvaney, whose new coalition is called Gambling Is Not Investing, argued that the Commodities Futures Trading Commission is “set up to regulate markets,” but it “is not set up to protect consumers,” such as the ones buying contracts on prediction markets, which include Polymarket and Kalshi.
The CTFC has argued that it should be the regulator of prediction markets, not state agencies.
