STATESIDE
in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB).
• After years of failed efforts, the stagnant slot tax threshold was finally increased from $1,200 to $2,000 and will be indexed to inflation.
• Maintaining a low corporate rate incentivizes innovation and reinvestment.
• Advocating for a 50-states attorneys general coalition to ensure the Department of Justice (DOJ) prioritizes fighting illegal gambling.
The increase in the slot threshold and lower corporate taxes matter. The “tax the corporations and rich” crowd never understands that corporations employ millions, pay taxes, create community infrastructure and pay investors. When companies relocate for favorable tax rates, communities suffer because of their exit. New York City and Wall Street are already experiencing that scenario after two months with new Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The guy’s critics and political opponents have already multiplied and the exodus has begun. Following the statistical analysis, a comprehensive interview featuring my former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie followed. Hired in late 2025, Christie serves as the AGA’s new strategic advisor on specific gaming issues.
I can’t think of too many more qualified. Christie is often called the “godfather” of legal sports and online betting since he was their longtime original governmental champion.
Six long years of lost court battles never deterred the tough-as-nails Christie from winning in 2018. I know…I covered him during his eight-year tenure. Unfortunately, just when you think conditions are running smoothly, enter the disrupters. Christie, who never minces words, has warned operators and legislators against the upstart prediction markets. He calls them “rogue cowboys” who ignore rules and regulations in all 50 U.S. states. Sounds a bit
like illegal offshore gambling, right? A prediction market allows individuals to make trade contracts on almost any future event because of their unknown outcomes. These include elections and sports competitions. Christie adamantly opposes them for multiple reasons: • 40 states with legal sports betting have worked for years to establish public confidence in its integrity. Christie said, “Prediction markets push their way in.” They do not comply or care if it is one of the 40 legal states or the other 10 who chose not to participate.
Consumers also lack opportunities to resolve grievances. Christie cited a poll stating 78 percent of prediction market gamblers believe a state regulator could resolve any issue.
• States are economically and socially damaged from tax revenue losses. Taxes fund education, senior care and many other designated causes.
• League damage- regulated bets offer accountability, where prediction markets face few, if any, consequences for violations.
• States must offer help and guidance for those at risk of addictive gambling behavior. The AGA has launched its “Play Smart from the Start” initiative, investing billions in both national and state responsible gaming programs. Predictive markets ignore responsible gambling.
• Target marketing to underage consumers endangers teens and young adults from 18-21 years old. Millions may be tempted to place bets, believing they are buying into a promised investment. Christie said, “It is actually just a bet.”
Prediction markets can further damage sports betting. Christie worries that ultimately, the courts or political institutions will get involved, saying, “This is not what we bargained for” and everyone will lose. As it stands now the federal Commodity
Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has almost become adversarial to the legalized sports betting world. The question is whether a federal agency has the authority to regulate “sports-based event contracts as uncertain derivatives, in direct opposition to state-level gambling regulations.
Christie said Congress plays no role in this. Both Congress and the CFTC lack the resources and trained personnel to regulate and follow through on illegal activity. This “nonsense” is nothing new. In my 1980s amusement days, I battled the “rogue cowboy” operators who promised locations a big score during the video game craze and got away for a long time with illegal, non-compliant behavior. We finally got rid of these losers, but not without significant damage being done to coin-op companies of integrity.
More on this issue for sure in the future. Sharon Harris
Sharon has worked in the casino and coin- operated amusement industries since the 1980s. In the early 1990s, Sharon transferred her public relations and journalism skills to the gaming industry. She wrote her fi rst feature for Casino International predecessor EUROSLOT magazine in 1994.
As Associate Editor, North America for Casino International, Sharon has chronicled the explosive growth of U.S. gaming and reported on its most signifi cant changes. She has traveled across America to participate in dozens of industry events and has interviewed
hundreds of gaming operators,
executives and suppliers.
BMM qp strip CI
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