Pennsylvania plans to ban betting companies from providing liquidity for prediction markets, or affecting the layouts of DraftKings and Flutter

On July 22, Pennsylvania State Representative Tarik Khan introduced HB 2711, co-sponsored by 24 bipartisan legislators (20 Democrats and 4 Republicans), which has been submitted to the House Consumer Protection, Technology, and Utilities Committee. The bill aims to prohibit the provision of prediction market services to Pennsylvania residents while engaging in gambling activities in the regular business of liquidity providers or market makers, extending the restrictions to parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, and joint ventures, and prohibits prediction platforms from sharing revenue with gambling companies.

This move could impact sports betting groups like DraftKings (which has acquired CFTC-registered Railbird Technologies and launched its own DKeX exchange) and Flutter, which are entering the prediction market-making field. The bill also sets a minimum age limit of 21, prohibits contracts involving high school sports, events with minor participation, and death markets, and requires platforms to establish anti-fraud and insider information abuse protection mechanisms.

The bill does not establish a licensing system, and enforcement authority is granted to the state Attorney General. Previously, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2:1 in April that the federal Commodity Exchange Act takes precedence over state gambling laws, but Pennsylvania has joined a coalition of 40 states advocating for sports contracts to be subject to state-level regulation.