Former NJ Governor Chris Christie takes advisory role at AGA in fight against prediction markets

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has joined the American Gaming Association (AGA) as a strategic advisor on sports event contracts, adding a central figure from the US sports betting legalization effort to the trade group’s campaign against sports prediction markets.

“He’s partnered with us as a strategic advisor on sports event contracts,” Dara Cohen, the AGA’s senior director for strategic communications and media relations, told gambling media. “He brings significant expertise and a strong background in the legal framework around state and tribal authority.”

Christie led New Jersey’s challenge to the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, a case that resulted in the US Supreme Court overturning the federal ban on state-authorized sports betting in May 2018. The ruling allowed states to decide whether to permit sports wagering, a shift that led to 40 states and Washington, DC, enacting sports betting laws.

Christie’s current work centers on prediction markets offering sports-related contracts. These platforms, licensed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, allow users to trade binary or yes/no contracts on event outcomes. Companies such as Kalshi and Polymarket began with contracts tied to politics and weather before moving into sports.

State attorneys general and gaming regulators in several jurisdictions have argued that these offerings function as sports gambling without state licenses, including in states such as California and Texas, where sports betting remains illegal.

“They’re illegal. They are clearly illegal in the sports betting space, and here’s why: The Supreme Court turned this over to the states to do, and the fact is, doing it through the states gives you two things. One, it gives availability to people. Two, in a regulated market,” Christie said on CNBC.

“These are folks that are not being regulated, it’s not in compliance with the law, and it is hurting the 40 states where this is going on,” he added.

Several sportsbook operators, including DraftKings, FanDuel, and Fanatics, recently withdrew from AGA membership to pursue their own prediction market products. DraftKings Predictions and FanDuel Predicts launched within the past week.

Christie has said his focus is limited to sports-related contracts. “The states have occupied the space to regulate sports gambling,” he said. “They were given the opportunity to do that by the United States Supreme Court in a case that I fought six years to bring to the U.S. Supreme Court and to win … It’s been done in a way that is regulated and monitored to make sure that the integrity of the game is protected.”

He has also criticized federal oversight. “Just because people brazenly break the law doesn’t mean they should be permitted to do so,” Christie said.

The CFTC, which administers the Commodity Exchange Act, has permitted certain licensed markets to list sports outcome contracts. The agency has not indicated that it plans to halt such activity. Christie’s influence with the CFTC could be limited by his strained relationship with President Donald Trump, whom he endorsed in 2016 before later opposing him in the 2024 Republican primary.

Christie previously ran for president in 2016 and 2024 and is also known for defending fantasy sports during the 2016 campaign.