New Hampshire’s lottery chief says the state’s exclusive sports betting contract with DraftKings generates sufficient revenue and opposes regulating prediction markets.
Prediction markets differ from traditional sports betting because they let participants set odds through buying and selling shares, creating a binary yes‑or‑no market rather than a house‑set spread, as explained by Michael McCann of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute.
Platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi host wagers on sports, pop culture and politics, with sports accounting for roughly 90% of trading volume; Kalshi reported $1 million in governor’s race trades and $4.6 million in the Senate race, while Polymarket saw $1.1 million in related activity.
Since sports betting became legal in 2020, New Hampshire has earned $2.7 million to $3.25 million each month in tax revenue, over $43 million of which was directed to public education in fiscal year 2026, bringing total education revenue above $200 million since the program’s launch.
Executive director Charlie McIntyre doubts the state could replicate this revenue from prediction markets, noting they are not exclusive and currently generate no payments to the state, and he says the existing contract is “lucrative” and should not be disturbed.
Legal uncertainty remains, as federal law under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission classifies prediction markets as swaps regulated by the CFTC, but a pending Supreme Court case (Flaherty v. KalshiEX) may determine whether they are treated as gambling subject to state regulation.
A recent UNH poll shows two‑thirds of residents under 35 expect prediction markets to harm the country, and a study linking online sports betting to a 22.8% rise in problem‑gambling calls and a 3.1% increase in suicide rates underscores concerns about its social impact.
Source: www.nhbr.com
