With cease-and-desist orders flying, lawsuits piling up, state regulators and tribal gaming leaders pushing back, and a public still trying to figure out what exactly the fight is all about, prediction markets are now front and center in one of the most contentious legal battles over jurisdiction in recent years.
Watching it all unfold, it’s hard not to reach the conclusion that prediction markets currently sit in a legal no-man’s-land. To some, they’re nothing more than gambling. To others, they’re legitimate financial contracts.
That was the backdrop when CasinoBeats spoke with Carl Kennedy about the legal tug-of-war over prediction markets and what comes next. Kennedy is a partner and co-chair of Financial Markets and Regulation at Katten and a former regulator at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) who was a primary drafter of several rules implementing the Dodd-Frank Act.