The FTC Is Probing FanDuel, DraftKings: Why I’m Unimpressed
The Federal Trade Commission is looking into FanDuel and DraftKings related to consumer protection, but I’m actually super unimpressed.
The Trump administration’s FTC is in the early stages of what has been described as a “probe” into the traditional online sports betting industry, in particular the giants DraftKings and FanDuel, according to a report Tuesday from The Washington Sun.
The probe is “not expected to include the ‘prediction markets’ such as Kalshi and Polymarket,” the report stated.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has backed Kalshi and Polymarket in their legal fights against states over their stock-market-style sports betting. Donald Trump Jr. has financial interests in both prediction markets.
One could read this as a federal agency probing the main competitors to companies with financial ties to the president’s family.
DraftKings and FanDuel both operate prediction markets, but their traditional online sports betting dwarfs that component of their respective businesses.
The FTC’s probe into DraftKings and FanDuel will “probably [center] on allegations of deceptive and misleading advertisements.” Meanwhile, critics of prediction markets have long alleged similar marketing practices.
The Washington Sun article characterized the Trump administration as having “embraced” the sports gambling industry at large. Instead, it has embraced prediction markets, which come at the expense of state-sanctioned online sports betting.
A federal review of traditional online sports gambling products is overdue, but one that leaves out prediction markets will appear politically motivated to the benefit of the president’s son.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week showed that just 29% of American adults support sports betting via prediction markets. This poll suggests that gambling on sports via Kalshi and Polymarket has even less public approval than DraftKings and FanDuel. More Americans oppose legal sports betting than support it.
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