Senators highlight legislation to ensure prediction gambling market is regulated by states, not the federal government
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator John Curtis (R-UT), joined by Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA), today appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss the Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act, legislation they introduced this week to prohibit Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) registered entities from listing any prediction contract that resembles a sports bet or casino-style game.
Excerpts from the interview are below. The full video can be viewed here.
On states’ rights to control gambling:
Senator Curtis: Let me say, we’re not banning sports betting. We’re just simply putting it in the right places to be regulated, and one of those places is in the state—and, as you alluded to, Utah does not allow gambling in any form. So, one of the things that’s really important to me is that we don’t take this control away from Utah.
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I would say revenue is a piece of it, but a much larger piece is who should be regulating this; where that authority lies. I think we both feel strongly that is in the states.
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Going back to prediction markets and whether or not it’s gambling—if it acts like gambling, if it looks like gambling; it is gambling. That’s been very clear where that belongs.
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You have to ask, “What could go wrong?” Imagine betting on a high school athlete getting hurt the day of a high school game, right? That’s why this needs the appropriate regulation.
On bipartisan support for the Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act:
Senator Curtis: I actually think both of us feel that there’s a lot of momentum on both sides of the aisle on this. I think you’re going to see further legislation not only from us, but from our colleagues on this to get our arms around [the issue] and make sure it’s done properly.
On Department of Homeland Security shutdown:
Senator Curtis: I’ve been here for eight years. I’ve seen more shutdowns than I can count. Not a single one of them has produced the results it was intended to produce. Shutdowns are bad. We punish the wrong people and who we should be punishing are members of Congress. Let’s take our pay away until we get this done. A lot of the objectives that are tried to reach through shutdowns, whether it’s a Republican shutdown or a Democrat shutdown, should be reached through the legislative process, not by hostage. So, I’m not a fan of shutdowns. I’ve never seen one that’s been productive or has accomplished its goal. We need to move on and deal with this through the legislative process.
On immigration and ICE enforcement:
Senator Curtis: This is the false narrative that you can’t have rule of law and compassion. I think that’s what our country is built on. I know those are Utah values, and I really believe we can enforce the law. We can have rule of law, but we can also do it with compassion. I think that’s where American people are a little bit uncomfortable with some of the things that they’ve seen.
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We have to have rule of law in this country. But compassion with that rule in law is not a mutually exclusive idea.
Joe Kernen (CNBC): Okay, the open border for the four years of the Biden Administration, was that compassion?
Senator Curtis: That is not compassion. That’s terrible. That’s ignoring the rule of law and ignoring compassion. It wasn’t compassionate to encourage those people to come into our country undocumented and be subject to cartels, garnishing their wages. It wasn’t compassionate to tell them that, “If you if you come here, you can have the American dream,” when they can’t. So, that’s why we’re getting this wrong. You got to understand what compassion is and what it’s not.