Donald Trump Jr Encouraged State AGs To Leave Prediction Market Regulation To The Feds: Report

AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File

Donald Trump Jr. seemingly parroted the Trump administration’s messaging when he reportedly encouraged state attorneys general to leave prediction market regulation to the federal government, The New York Times reported Thursday.

According to the report, Trump Jr. made a closed-door pitch to Republican state AGs at a three-day retreat in March, even though he has vowed to “keep his family’s business interests separate from the work of the administration.”

This as President Donald Trump “has declared that he wants prediction markets to thrive under his leadership, without state oversight.”

The Times reported:

Sitting onstage for a question-and-answer session with Montana’s attorney general, Mr. Trump suggested that state leaders were being led astray by a “vested interest” — gambling firms that wanted to protect their “monopolies” by attacking prediction markets, four people familiar with his remarks said. In reality, he said, the markets already had robust oversight, describing them as a sophisticated financial tool overseen by federal officials, not state attorneys general.

Mr. Trump’s tone was friendly, the people said. But his comments, which have not been previously reported, dovetailed with a message his father’s administration has sent to state leaders: Back off.

Trump Jr.’s message comes as 20 red and blue states are suing over whether prediction markets should be subjected to state sports betting laws.

“State leaders have argued that the markets are dodging regulations and failing to pay state taxes — estimated to total at least $2 billion a year in lost revenue, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan research group,” the Times reported.

Trump Jr. has stakes in the two major prediction markets, Kalshi and Polymarket. Last year, Kalshi hired him as an advisor and paid more than $300,000 as part of the compensation package. Trump Jr. also joined Polymarket’s advisory board while buying a stake in that company.

A spokesman for Trump Jr. told the Times he “does not interface with the federal government on behalf of any company he invests in or advises.”

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