The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Tuesday that asserts the agency’s exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets.
The filing is part of a broader CFTC effort to protect its jurisdiction over prediction markets from an ongoing campaign of state encroachment.
“The federal district court in Ohio took an improperly narrow view of the Commission’s jurisdiction, and we are asking the Court of Appeals to correct that error,” CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said. “As I’ve said repeatedly, the CFTC will not allow overzealous state governments to undermine the agency’s longstanding authority over these markets.”
The amicus brief details how that comprehensive regulatory structure preempts state laws as applied to CFTC-regulated markets and outlines the comprehensive regulatory scheme that Congress designed and the CFTC implements.
The CFTC has filed amicus briefs in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and has filed lawsuits against Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, and Wisconsin. It also has secured a preliminary injunction against state regulation of CFTC-regulated prediction markets in Arizona.
The most recent lawsuit was filed on April 24 to halt New York’s efforts to apply state gambling laws against CFTC-registered contract markets.