We are witnessing a new era of gambling—only now it wears a glossy, tech-sophisticated disguise. Prediction markets — online platforms where people wager on everything from sports to elections — are nothing less than “gambling on steroids.” These markets bypass the guardrails that states long ago imposed on wagering. Betting on elections used to be universally banned. Betting under age 21 is a staple prohibition in many states. But through the Internet, prediction markets dodge all of this.
Major financial players are pouring billions into this space. The owner of the New York Stock Exchange is investing big in Polymarket. The scale is now massive. Young men, many not in school or work, are spending their hours and family money making risky bets—often via smartphones.
This addiction is insidious. When sports gambling becomes normalized, prediction markets exploit it further—allowing bets on micro-events, down to individual plays or player performance. In Colorado alone, gamblers wagered over $31 million on ping-pong matches in one month. Because these platforms claim they aren’t “traditional sportsbooks,” they try to avoid state regulation. Instead, they point to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as their only regulator. But guess what? That agency is severely under-staffed. It’s ill equipped to police betting on sports or politics when its domain has historically handled commodities like wheat or oil.
And where is Congress in all this? Silent. No hearings. No pressure. No public concern. Meanwhile, scandals are already emerging. The dangers here are not theoretical. Allowing prediction markets to proliferate invites corruption, player intimidation, off-field influence, and systemic collapse of integrity in public life. When you can bet on elections, on individual political outcomes, the trajectory toward chaos is obvious.
Unlike traditional gambling, prediction markets pay no state gambling taxes. And certainly, they carry no “redeeming social value.” Most gamblers never seek help for their addiction. This is exploitation, not entertainment.
Make no mistake: when they normalize wagering on politics, you cross a moral line. You stake not just money but national legitimacy. It is a cynical ploy—taking what was once illicit and making it mainstream, all while regulators and lawmakers stand by doing nothing. We need to treat prediction markets the way we treat totalitarian risk—to nip it in the bud, restrict it with urgency, and protect our institutions and youth from this new financial vice.
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This post originally appeared at https://phyllisschlafly.com/family/prediction-markets-are-gambling-on-steroids-2/
Phyllis Schlafly