CFTC Chair Selig vows to take state fight over prediction markets to the Supreme Court

The agency is suing at least 10 states and says its exclusive authority over derivatives markets is worth defending at the highest level Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig has drawn a line in the sand. The agency, he said, will fight state challenges to its exclusive authority over derivatives markets all the way to the Supreme Court. “We’re prepared to fight these challenges all the way up to the Supreme Court.” — Michael Selig, CFTC Chair Selig made the remark on October 30, 2026. It lands in the middle of a legal campaign that has the federal regulator squaring off against a growing list of state governments. A federal regulator versus the states The CFTC has launched legal actions against at least 10 states. The list includes Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois and Utah. The first lawsuits were filed in April 2026. By late October, the tally had grown to 10 federal cases. The core of the dispute is prediction markets and event contracts. These are products that let people trade on the outcome of real-world events, from elections to economic data releases. States have increasingly treated these products as gambling. Some have pursued enforcement actions, while o...