Comment on CFTC-2026-1189, CFTC-2026-1189-0001, Arthur, Bundy
Arthur BundyOpposeIndividual
Summary: Arthur Bundy opposes the proposed rule, arguing that it improperly deregulates prediction markets by narrowly defining "gaming" to exclude products that function like online gambling. He contends that these platforms exploit users and reward insider trading, and he urges the Commission to instead impose strict consumer protections similar to those found in state-regulated sportsbooks.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission ,The most effective way to deal with the current moment is to focus on making the corporation as person unconstitutional. To make privatization of government services unconstitutional. To demand that the sovereign authority of the United States belongs to the people and not to corporations. To show the people that they are the final authority in all legislation, executive orders, and judicial decisions. Marbury v. Madison, 1803: “That the people have an original right to establish for their future government such principles as, in their opinion, shall most conduce to their own happiness is the basis on which the whole American fabric has been erected. The exercise of this original right is a very great exertion; nor can it nor ought it to be frequently repeated. The principles, therefore, so established are deemed fundamental. And as the authority from which they proceed, is supreme, and can seldom act, they are designed to be permanent. This original and supreme will organizes the government and assigns to different departments their respective powers".I oppose this rule to deregulate prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket. The proposed rule rests on a definitional sleight of hand: by narrowly defining gaming as activity involving recreation, rules, and outcomes determined by luck, skill, or athletic ability, the Commission narrows its own authority to act against products that are, by every available measure, online gambling dressed in the language of derivatives markets. A widely cited analysis shows that 0.04 percent of traders captured nearly 70 percent of profits, a wealth distribution that does not describe an information market and does describe a casino. The marketing reflects it: Kalshi ran advertisements claiming sports betting is legal in all 50 states, which it is not, and its CEO publicly tweeted that participants had ninety minutes left to attempt generational wealth over a billion-dollar March Madness bracket. Polymarket ran a free grocery store in New York as a public relations stunt while its CEO described the company's long-term vision as financializing everything. The people on the losing end are not abstract: users on the Kalshi subreddit describe taking loans, draining retirement accounts, falling behind on rent, and losing the money they had been trying to use to help family. The proposed rule ignores those victims.The insider trading problem the Commission claims to be managing cannot be managed, and the political economy of the rulemaking deserves scrutiny. The platforms' own theory, articulated by the academic founders of the field, is that they want as many insiders trading as possible because insiders are what make the markets accurate, which means these markets are designed to reward people with non-public information and to extract money from everyone else. Surveillance and identity verification cannot change that, because the relevant insiders are tens of thousands of government employees, corporate staff, and their associates whose information cannot be kept out by any plausible compliance regime.Donald Trump Jr. is reported to be a strategic advisor to both Kalshi and Polymarket, the Commission's chairman has publicly defended these platforms against state regulators, and more than a dozen states are currently suing Kalshi for offering unlicensed gambling. The Commission should not finalize a rule that ratifies the platforms' preferred framework while these lawsuits proceed.For these reasons, we urge the Commission not to finalize the proposed rule. If the Commission proceeds, the final rule should at minimum require the same consumer protections as are imposed on state-regulated sportsbooks, including problem gambling tools, deposit limits, self-exclusion programs, advertising restrictions modeled on tobacco regulation, and a minimum age of 21. The Commission should make clear that the Commodity Exchange Act does not preempt state consumer protection law applicable to retail-facing event contracts, and it should acknowledge that regulating online gambling is not what the CFTC was built to do. The platforms chose CFTC registration because it is the cheapest framework available to them, and the public is entitled to a rule that takes their harm seriously rather than one that ratifies their arbitrage.Sincerely, Arthur Bundyartbundy2008@live.com1906 Berkshire LaneColorado Springs, Colorado 80909