Prediction Market Companies Pay Millions to Dem & GOP Operatives to Pave the Way for Legalized Gambling
Washington, D.C. — On Tuesday, Demand Progress published a new report that exposes how prediction market companies are trying to buy off both parties to pave the way for nationwide, legalized gambling. The report, Prediction Markets’ Bet on Influence, details how companies like Kalshi and Polymarket have ramped up lobbying spending and are hiring former Trump, Biden and Obama officials, as well as former members of Congress from both parties, in order to prevent states from treating bets on sports contracts as gambling.
The report exposes how Kalshi spent $1.8 million on lobbying in just the first half of 2026—nearly triple the $615,000 it spent in all of 2025. With this money, the company has hired former Obama official Stephanie Cutter, former Biden official John Bivona, former senior Republican floor staffer Tony Hanagan and former Democratic congressional staffer Jed Bhuta. Polymarket has also hired former Trump campaign advisor David Urban. The Coalition for Prediction Markets, the industry’s front group, hired former Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney as president and former Republican House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry as its senior adviser. Additionally, Donald Trump Jr. also holds paid advisory roles with both Kalshi and Polymarket.
Demand Progress previously called on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to reject efforts to weaken state gambling laws and put up a billboard outside the agency.
“State and tribal laws are one of the last lines of defense we have against predatory prediction market companies trying to unleash not just legalized sports betting but also a wild west of insider trading on the whole nation. This is why companies like Kalshi and Polymarket are ramping up their lobbying operations and hiring well-connected Republicans and Democrats,” said Ella Fanger, corporate power policy advisor at Demand Progress. “The government must reject this dangerous influence buying scheme and let prediction markets be treated as they really are: gambling websites that should not be able to evade sensible regulation.”