Congressional findings

Congress finds that— (1) online prediction markets offer services that are substantially the same as betting, wagering, gambling, and sports gambling; (2) foreign online prediction markets have offered to individuals in the United States unregulated gambling services that violate Federal and State laws; (3) State regulators have historically been understood to regulate gambling as a matter of consumer protection and public health; (4) State regulators were never intended to be precluded from enforcing State gambling laws against online prediction markets; and (5) in the absence of State regulations concerning online prediction markets, several harms have resulted, including— (A) fixing of wagers based on insider information or manipulation of outcomes, such as proposition bets in sports; (B) the mishandling or misuse of sensitive corporate and Government information, such as bets placed on the downfall of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro prior to his capture by the United States or military action against Iran; (C) harm to bettors' well-being as a result of addictive features, such as bonus funds, and a lack of safeguards, such as age restrictions; and (D) the availability of gambling activities to people as young as 18 years of age in violation of laws of the various States.