Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump said he wasn’t a huge fan of prediction markets. On Tuesday, he forcefully defended his administration’s “exclusive jurisdiction” over the controversial industry, calling it “critically important.”
“It is critically important that the CFTC’s exclusive authority over Prediction Markets is maintained, and that they will thrive,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “Under my leadership, we are setting ‘rules of the road’ that are the Gold Standard for the States.”
“We cannot have SCUM like Chris Christie, Letitia James, Tim Walz, and JB Pritzker setting the rules!” Trump wrote. “Other Countries are after this new form of Financial Market, and we want to remain at the top.”
The people Trump named have come out publicly against platforms that offer sports event contracts and expressed concern over issues like insider trading. Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, has been on a media tour railing against sports event contracts, which he says are synonymous with sports betting.
On April 21, James sued Coinbase and Gemini for “illegally running gambling operations” in New York; three days later, the CFTC sued the state of New York, James, and other officials.
