World Liberty Financial co-founder Donald Trump Jr. during the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Priorities Summit meeting on Friday, March 27, 2026 in Miami, Florida, USA.
Zack Bennett Bloomberg | Getty Images
The New York Times reported Thursday that Donald Trump Jr. told Republican state attorneys general in March not to pursue prediction markets.
Speaking at an event in New Orleans, the president’s son said he was being misled by gambling companies worried about states losing their “monopoly,” the Times reported, citing four people familiar with the remarks.
He added that event contract deals should be overseen by federal authorities, people told the Times.
The newspaper’s comments are noteworthy because Trump serves as an advisor to two major prediction market platforms, Calci and Polymarket. The news comes as states battle with the federal government over who has the right to regulate sports-related products on event contract exchanges.
The prediction market platform said Trump was providing input on Kalsi’s marketing strategy, not regulations. A Polymarket spokesperson did not directly address reports about Trump’s remarks, but said the company’s view is that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission controls the prediction market and its exchange.
Trump was invited by the Republican Attorneys General Association to speak for about a minute about regulating prediction markets, a spokesman for the president’s son said.
“Mr. Dong was invited by RAGA to speak at the conference and answered only one question from the moderator about his views on the regulation of prediction markets. Despite the New York Times’ disingenuous suggestion, the exchange lasted approximately one minute of an hour of Q&A and was not the focus of the event,” the spokesperson said.
The CFTC has sued nine states to block prediction market regulation, eight of which have Democratic attorneys general.
Attorneys general have also filed multiple lawsuits against prediction market platforms, including 44 in a letter to the CFTC last month saying federal agencies cannot oversee sports-related event contracts.
In response to a Times report about the platform’s website, Kalsi detailed how the platform operates and functions separately from gambling operators.
“It’s unprecedented and overly aggressive for states to try to shut down federally sanctioned exchanges,” Carsi said on his website. “It’s like North Carolina wanting to shut down its stock market.”
The company also said on its website that Calci lobbyist Jim Harrell “helped shape” the language of a provision in the North Carolina state budget that would impose a 23% tax on sportsbooks, while a 6% tax on prediction markets.
“This is literally the job of a lobbyist. They represent the interests of their clients and help inform legislators about potential legislation,” Carsi said on his website.
1789 Capital, the venture capital firm in which the White House and Trump Jr. are partners, did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Disclosure: CNBC and Kalsi have a commercial relationship that includes customer acquisition and minority ownership.
