Published on: December 23, 2025, 12:18h.
Updated on: December 22, 2025, 05:21h.
- Chris Christie is taking a stand against sports prediction markets
- Christie was instrumental in empowering states to legalize sports betting
- Christie’s rocky relationship with President Trump may limit his influence within the CFTC
Chris Christie, the former Republican Governor of New Jersey, known for advocating the rights of states to legalize sports betting, is now targeting sports prediction markets.
Christie, who served two terms as New Jersey’s Republican governor, played a key role in advocating against the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which previously limited single-game sports betting exclusively to Nevada.
Following a protracted legal battle, the US Supreme Court ruled in May 2018 that PASPA contravened interpretations of the Tenth Amendment’s anti-commandeering doctrine. This pivotal decision enabled 40 states and Washington, DC to enact sports betting legislation.
Now, Christie has allied with the American Gaming Association (AGA), a lobbying group focused on the interests of the commercial and tribal gaming sectors, to combat the growth of sports prediction markets.
CNBC reporter Contessa Brewer, who specializes in gaming coverage, disclosed Christie’s involvement last Friday.
Understanding Sports Prediction Markets
They are licensed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and enable participants to buy and sell contracts based on yes/no predictions. Platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket initially engaged with various real-world events but have now expanded to include sports outcomes.
Some state attorneys general, gaming regulators, and select lawmakers assert that these prediction markets operate similarly to sports gambling; however, platforms like Kalshi do not possess sports betting licenses in the states where they function, including jurisdictions like California and Texas, where sports betting remains prohibited.
Major traditional sports betting companies like DraftKings, FanDuel, and Fanatics have recently exited the AGA to develop their own prediction markets, launching DraftKings Predictions and FanDuel Predicts in the past week.
The AGA is optimistic that Christie can help shift perceptions on the matter.
“They clearly violate sports gambling regulations,” Christie stated to Brewer. “The Supreme Court decided this [sports betting] issue should reside with individual states. Regulatory oversight is crucial,” Christie remarked. “These practices are not legally compliant.”
The CFTC, under the Commodity Exchange Act, has permitted its licensees to engage in contracts related to sporting events. However, the agency, particularly during Trump’s presidency, appears disinclined to eliminate sports contract trading within prediction markets. Notably, Trump’s family is preparing to enter the prediction market space via their media group, with Donald Trump Jr. serving as a special advisor to both Polymarket and Kalshi.
The Commodity Exchange Act explicitly prohibits CFTC license holders from facilitating contracts associated with “gaming” or events that are deemed “contrary to the public interest,” such as war, acts of terrorism, and assassination.
“The mere fact that certain entities blatantly disregard the law does not justify their actions being accepted,” Christie commented.
Ensuring Sports Integrity
Christie highlights that unlike regulated sportsbooks, which report suspicious betting patterns to state regulators and sports leagues to monitor potential game manipulations, prediction markets lack such oversight, resembling a “wild west” scenario.
“Incidents in the NBA and MLB were uncovered due to licensed sportsbooks collaborating with state regulators to identify irregularities. No one is monitoring for anomalies in these prediction markets,” Christie stated.
“The CFTC has clearly indicated they are not rigorously overseeing this,” Christie added. “The agency has not taken responsibility regarding sports markets, nor do they assert to be doing so.”
Christie will endeavor to support the AGA in convincing the CFTC that prediction markets should not facilitate sports contracts. This could prove challenging given that Christie’s rapport with Trump has notably deteriorated since his endorsement of the former businessman in 2016, an act Christie now deems “the greatest blunder of my political journey.”