Four major sportsbooks leave AGA over prediction markets

Four major online operators-DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics and bet365-have left the American Gaming Association after disagreements over offering prediction-market products. The departures removed all purely online sportsbook members from the AGA as federal lawmakers prepare to consider new rules for those markets.

The exits began on Nov. 18, 2025, when DraftKings and FanDuel confirmed they were leaving the trade group after each announced plans to offer prediction-market products. DraftKings launched DraftKings Predictions on Dec. 19, 2025, across 38 states following its Railbird acquisition. FanDuel launched FanDuel Predicts on Dec. 22, 2025, in five states with a phased national rollout under a CFTC-regulated partnership with CME Group. Fanatics withdrew about three weeks later after rolling out Fanatics Markets on Dec. 3. Bet365 exited in March, citing the AGA’s focus on the retail casino sector.

The AGA published its Q1 2026 Gaming Industry Outlook on May 7. The survey of 26 senior gaming executives, conducted by Oxford Economics from March 23 to April 8, reported a 21.4% net positive outlook across revenue, employment, wages, executive sentiment and casino hotel event activity. The association’s Gaming Conditions Index rose 1.5% year over year, and more than 60% of respondents said they expect higher revenues and increased capital spending over the next six to 12 months.

The survey also showed concern about prediction markets. Eighty-one percent of executives identified prediction markets that offer contracts tied to sports events as a “very significant” threat to the regulated gaming industry. AGA president and CEO Bill Miller described those markets as encroaching on state and tribal licensed operators and framed the contracts as a form of illegal sports betting the industry intends to challenge.

The departures altered the lobbying balance in Washington. Joe Maloney, formerly the AGA’s senior vice president of strategic communications, moved to lead the Sports Betting Alliance, a trade group that represents five online sportsbook operators. Of those five, three actively offer prediction-market products, one opposes them, and one had not publicly stated a position before leaving the AGA. The two trade groups now represent competing positions on federal policy for prediction markets.

Prediction-market platforms increased their federal lobbying. One firm reported roughly $615,000 in 2025 lobbying expenditures and another about $360,000. Supporters of a CFTC-regulated framework formed a Coalition for Prediction Markets that includes firms from crypto and retail brokerage sectors and plans to spend millions defending the current regulatory structure. Some prediction-market firms list high-profile advisors.

A key policy test is set for May 20, when the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Technology and Data Privacy holds its first hearing focused on prediction markets and sports wagering. Confirmed witnesses include AGA president Bill Miller, Mary Beth Thomas of the Tennessee Sports Wagering Council, Scott Sadin of Integrity Compliance 360, and former House Financial Services Committee chairman Patrick McHenry, a senior advisor to the coalition supporting prediction markets. Subcommittee chair Marsha Blackburn intends to offer a recommendation framework before the August recess, and the Commerce and Banking committees are expected to reconcile competing proposals before the 2026 midterm elections. In late April, senators unanimously voted to ban themselves and their staff from participating in prediction markets.

The May 20 hearing will be the first formal appearance before a Senate body of the reconfigured lobbying landscape and the first time the AGA presents its position without the country’s largest online sportsbooks at the table.