NYC Council Launches Investigation into Prediction Market Advertising
On Wednesday, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced an investigation into the marketing and advertising practices of major prediction market platforms, with a focus on potentially false, deceptive or abusive tactics that particularly target young New Yorkers.
The Council sent letters to four platforms: Kalshi, Polymarket, Coinbase and Gemini Titan, requesting information about their marketing and advertising practices.
Related Knowledge Center: Prediction markets
Platforms are offering a way for users trade positions — place bets — on a wide range of possible events, and newsrooms are starting to incorporate the data.
As the business rapidly grows, critics and opponents are pushing back. Numerous states have argued that the markets are gambling, and sports gambling in particular is regulated by the state. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, now led by a Trump appointee, disagrees — as did a federal district court judge in a suit involving New Jersey.
Critics see some of the markets as, particularly in the case of military actions, indefensible, and note as well that some large, well-timed bets — “event contracts” — suggest an abuse of insider knowledge of federal actions.