{"id":72267,"date":"2026-05-09T09:37:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T09:37:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/six-months-in-the-aga-exodus-has-reshaped-us-gamblings-lobbying-landscape\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T09:37:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T09:37:01","slug":"six-months-in-the-aga-exodus-has-reshaped-us-gamblings-lobbying-landscape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/six-months-in-the-aga-exodus-has-reshaped-us-gamblings-lobbying-landscape\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Months in, the AGA Exodus Has Reshaped US Gambling&#8217;s Lobbying Landscape"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News )<\/b><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"@container mb-[25px] rounded-sm overflow-clip py-0.5 pr-0.5 pl-2.5 bg-success-100\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col gap-m overflow-clip rounded-[6px] !bg-success-10 p-3 @[420px]:p-m\">\n<h2 class=\"m-0 flex items-center gap-s text-[19px] !text-[#1c1c1c] md:text-[20px]\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"16\" height=\"10\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 10\" fill=\"none\" class=\"shrink-0 text-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M1 1.5h14\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M1 8.5h10\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><\/svg><span>Key Takeaways<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul class=\"m-0 flex list-none flex-col gap-m pl-0\">\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">AGA Q1 2026 outlook: 81% of gaming executives flag prediction markets as \u201cvery significant\u201d threat.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">Four major operators exited AGA in six months: Draftkings, Fanduel, Fanatics, and bet365.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">Senate Commerce subcommittee opens first prediction-markets hearing on May 20.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Fractured Lobbying Landscape Augurs Competition in Heightened Regulatory Environment<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americangaming.org\/resources\/gaming-industry-outlook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The AGA survey<\/a> states that executive sentiment hit its highest level since the third quarter of 2022, with a 21.4% net positive outlook across key business indicators. The association\u2019s Gaming Conditions Index \u2013 a composite of revenue, employment, wages, executive sentiment, and casino hotel event activity \u2013 is up 1.5% year-over-year, and more than 60% of the executives surveyed said they expect higher revenues, stronger balance sheets, and increased capital investment over the next 6-12-month period.<\/p>\n<p>However, the picture changes when the discussion shifts to a rapidly growing competitor. 81% of respondents identified <span>prediction markets<\/span> offering sports event contracts as a \u201cvery significant\u201d risk to the regulated gaming industry. AGA president and CEO Bill Miller framed <span>prediction markets<\/span> in his statement as an encroachment on legal, state-regulated, and tribal-regulated operators, characterizing sports event contracts as a form of illegal sports betting that the industry intends to keep contesting.<\/p>\n<p>This posture is consistent with the AGA\u2019s previous approach to actors like Kalshi and Polymarket, but its membership \u2013 and therefore the lobbying clout \u2013 has significantly receded in the past half year. The exits began on November 18, 2025, when Draftkings and Fanduel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/11\/18\/fanduel-draftkings-abandon-aga-memberships.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">confirmed in separate statements<\/a> that they had relinquished their AGA memberships over misalignment with the trade group\u2019s stance on <span>prediction markets<\/span>. Both operators had announced prediction-market plans during their Q3 2025 earnings calls \u2013 Draftkings through its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.draftkings.com\/draftkings-debuts-predictions-app-entering-prediction-markets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Railbird acquisition<\/a> and Fanduel via a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cmegroup.com\/media-room\/press-releases\/2025\/12\/22\/fanduel-and-cme-group-launch-fanduel-predicts.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Commodity Futures Trading Commission\u2013regulated partnership<\/a> with CME Group. Both products are now live: Draftkings Predictions launched December 19, 2025, across 38 states, while Fanduel Predicts launched three days later in five states with a phased national rollout.<\/p>\n<p>Three weeks later, <a href=\"https:\/\/sbcamericas.com\/2025\/12\/11\/fanatics-american-gaming-association\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fanatics Betting and Gaming<\/a> also confirmed its withdrawal, citing the same reason \u2013 a difference of opinion on <span>prediction markets<\/span> following the December 3 launch of its Fanatics Markets product. The same week, the Sports Betting Alliance announced that Joe Maloney \u2013 the AGA\u2019s senior vice president of strategic communications \u2013 was moving over to lead the SBA as president and CEO. The crossover crystallized what had been an open question about the two trade groups\u2019 relationship.<\/p>\n<p>The SBA represents five online operators \u2013 of which three actively offer prediction-market products, one (BetMGM) opposes them, and one (bet365) has not stated a position \u2013 and consequently does not take a unified position on the vertical itself. The two groups now sit on opposite sides of the federal lobbying calculus on <span>prediction markets<\/span>. The structural outcome is that the association enters the back half of 2026 with no purely online operator remaining in its membership, while the SBA \u2013 led by a former AGA executive \u2013 now carries the lobbying weight for the country\u2019s largest online sportsbooks.<\/p>\n<p>Not everyone broke ranks with the AGA because of prediction-market disputes. Notably, <a href=\"https:\/\/sbcamericas.com\/2026\/03\/24\/bet365-american-gaming-association-exit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bet365 cited<\/a> the trade group\u2019s focus on the retail casino industry rather than any prediction-market dispute as the reason behind its departure from the association in March. An AGA spokesperson told SBC Americas this was \u201cnot a new development\u201d and declined to specify timing.<\/p>\n<p>The lobbying landscape these operators are entering is more crowded than it was a year ago. Kalshi spent $615,000 on federal lobbying in 2025, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/04\/15\/kalshi-and-polymarket-congress-regulation-washington-influence.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OpenSecrets data cited by CNBC<\/a>, while Polymarket spent $360,000. Last winter, Kalshi helped launch the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportico.com\/business\/sports-betting\/2026\/kalshi-prediction-market-lobbying-data-casino-1234888397\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Coalition for Prediction Markets<\/a>, a trade group whose membership now includes Coinbase, <span>Crypto<\/span>.com, Robinhood, and Underdog. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportico.com\/business\/sports-betting\/2026\/kalshi-prediction-market-lobbying-data-casino-1234888397\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Per Sportico<\/a>, the coalition expects to spend millions of dollars in 2026 to defend the CFTC-regulated framework for <span>prediction markets<\/span>. The membership composition represents a constituency without precedent in US gambling lobbying. Both Kalshi and Polymarket count Donald Trump Jr. as an advisor.<\/p>\n<p>The next federal pressure point lands on May 20, when the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Technology, and Data Privacy convenes <a href=\"https:\/\/brightsideofnews.com\/gambling\/senate-prediction-markets-integrity-hearing-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">its first hearing<\/a> directly addressing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/what-are-prediction-markets\/\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">prediction markets<\/a> and their intersection with sports wagering. AGA president Bill Miller, Tennessee Sports Wagering Council executive director Mary Beth Thomas, Integrity Compliance 360 co-founder and CEO Scott Sadin, and former House Financial Services Committee chairman Patrick McHenry, now a senior advisor at the Coalition for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/what-are-prediction-markets\/\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Prediction Markets<\/a>, are the confirmed witnesses at the time of writing.<\/p>\n<p>Subcommittee chair Marsha Blackburn has indicated she intends to deliver a recommendation framework before the August recess, with the Senate Commerce and Banking Committees expected to reconcile competing approaches before the 2026 midterms consume the legislative calendar.<\/p>\n<p>Several legislative vehicles are already in motion: the Event Contract Enforcement Act and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/what-are-prediction-markets\/\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Prediction Markets<\/a> are Gambling Act would jointly restrict sports-related contracts on federally regulated exchanges, with the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/what-are-prediction-markets\/\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Prediction Markets<\/a> Security and Integrity Act of 2026 also under consideration. In late April, senators unanimously voted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/congress\/senate-bans-members-staff-trading-prediction-markets-rcna342939\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">to ban themselves and their staff from participating in prediction markets<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The May 20 hearing will mark the first occasion on which the realigned lobbying ecosystem of the past six months tests itself before a Senate body \u2013 and the first time the AGA\u2019s narrowed coalition argues its position without the country\u2019s largest online sportsbooks at the table.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/six-months-in-the-aga-exodus-has-reshaped-us-gamblings-lobbying-landscape\/\">Source link <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News ) Key Takeaways AGA Q1 2026 outlook: 81% of gaming executives flag prediction markets as \u201cvery significant\u201d threat. Four major operators exited AGA in six months: Draftkings, Fanduel, Fanatics, and bet365. Senate Commerce subcommittee opens first prediction-markets hearing on May 20. Fractured Lobbying Landscape Augurs Competition in Heightened Regulatory [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3947362403,"featured_media":72268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72267"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3947362403"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}