{"id":760,"date":"2026-03-06T22:15:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T23:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/?p=760"},"modified":"2026-03-25T13:30:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:30:45","slug":"vasquez-wants-to-use-farm-bill-to-bar-sports-event-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/06\/vasquez-wants-to-use-farm-bill-to-bar-sports-event-contracts\/","title":{"rendered":"Vasquez Wants to Use Farm Bill to Bar Sports Event Contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>New Mexico congressman wants to amend Farm Bill to prohibit prediction market operators from offering sports event contracts<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>He says prediction markets are evading state and tribal laws<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The amendment is supported by tribal gaming entities<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) wants to leverage the Farm Bill to potentially prohibit prediction market operators from offering derivatives that mirror traditional sports wagers.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_378903\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-378903\" data-style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-378903 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"672\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GV.jpg\"><figcaption>Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM). He&#8217;s pushing an amendment to ban sports event contracts. (Image: House.gov)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It may sound like a novel approach, but Vasquez may be onto something because the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/cftc-intervenes-in-prediction-markets-litigation\/\">prediction markets\u2019 federal regulator<\/a>, regulates trading of agriculture derivatives. In fact, some critics of the commission and yes\/no exchanges argue that is the CFTC\u2019s primary function.<\/p>\n<p>As for the Vasquez amendment, the House Agriculture Committee prevented a vote on it, but the congressman remains undaunted.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p>Let\u2019s be honest\u2014allowing companies to bypass state and Tribal gambling rules by calling bets on sports \u2018event contacts\u2019 or \u2018prediction markets\u2019 is a direct violation of Tribal sovereignty, and it\u2019s stealing revenue from the New Mexico Tribes who are playing by the rules,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>New Mexico doesn\u2019t allow online sports betting, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/prediction-markets-could-face-liability-if-deemed-addictive\/\">prediction markets<\/a> have seized on their federally regulated status and are offering sports event contracts in scores of states that don\u2019t permit traditional sports wagering. Vasquez says he procured a commitment from House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson (R-PA) that the amendment will be discussed in the future.<\/p>\n<h2>Vasquez Amendment Draws Praise Tribal Casino Groups<\/h2>\n<p>While the Vasquez amendment is stymied for now, there may be momentum for it in the future, particularly as prediction markets scrutiny becomes an increasingly bipartisan issue.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>What is clear is that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-casino-leaders-push-for-increased-oversight-of-prediction-markets\/\">tribal casino operators,<\/a> which have been long-standing, vocal critics of prediction markets, support the Vasquez amendment. Indian Gaming Association (IGA) Chairman David Bean and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/california-indian-casino-leader-says-cftc-nom-selig-must-examine-prediction-markets\/\">James Siva<\/a>, the chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA), back the Vasquez amendment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Siva, who represents a consortium of tribal gaming interests in the most populous state, notes Congress and the Supreme Court have long recognized that regulation of gaming, including sports wagering, is determined by the states.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cCongress and the U.S. Supreme Court have long recognized this principle,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cYet today, so-called prediction markets are trying to create gaps in federal law and regulation so they can offer nationwide sports betting without licensing, oversight, or consumer protections, including in states like California where sports betting is expressly prohibited and overwhelmingly rejected by the voters.\u00a0\u00a0Representative Vasquez\u2019s amendment would have reinforced state authority, defended tribal sovereignty, and protected consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Prediction Markets Making for Strange Bedfellows<\/h2>\n<p>Interestingly, prediction markets are proving to be a unifying point for members of the two major parties. That much was seen earlier today when Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT) and Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA) introduced the Event Contract Enforcement Act.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Their proposal isn\u2019t seeking the elimination of the event contracts industry, but it seeks to bar sports derivatives as well as \u201cthe listing of contracts for sale related to terrorism, assassination, war.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Their bill and news of the Vasquez amendment emerged a day after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/merkley-klobuchar-want-to-ban-government-officials-from-pm-trading\/\">a group Democrat senators<\/a> pitched legislation aimed at reining insider trading on prediction markets &#8212; a bill stoked by evidence of such trades in the wake of US involvement in Iran and Venezuela.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vasquez-wants-to-use-farm-bill-to-bar-sports-event-contracts\/\">Vasquez Wants to Use Farm Bill to Bar Sports Event Contracts<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\">Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Mexico congressman wants to amend Farm Bill to prohibit prediction market operators from offering sports event contracts He says prediction markets are evading state and tribal laws The amendment is supported by tribal gaming entities Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) wants to leverage the Farm Bill to potentially prohibit prediction market operators from offering derivatives&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":763,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760\/revisions\/763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}