The U.S. sports betting industry is at a crossroads. 

The country’s two biggest sportsbooks, FanDuel and DraftKings, are charting a separate path from the American Gaming Association—one of the most prominent industry advocacy groups—even as both sides continue to push for legalized, regulated sports betting nationwide.

DraftKings and FanDuel left the AGA—just like they recently withdrew from Las Vegas—after it became clear that their entry into prediction markets put them at odds. Both sports betting giants will launch prediction-markets platforms soon; FanDuel said its app will come online in December, while DraftKings said its own platform will be available “in the coming months.”

On Tuesday, the AGA accepted requests from DraftKings and FanDuel to “relinquish their membership, effective immediately,” an AGA spokesperson said in a statement. 

“We wish them the best, and we expect to maintain close ties in our mission to promote and protect legal, regulated gaming,” the AGA spokesperson said.

Representatives for both FanDuel and DraftKings confirmed the companies decided to split from the AGA.

The AGA—and a growing number of state regulators—have raised concerns that prediction markets circumvent established gambling laws, exposing consumers to products that fall outside the traditional regulatory framework. The advocacy group says on its website that prediction markets “openly flout sports betting’s state and tribal oversight in offering sports event contracts.”

Despite the separation, the two sides still have common ground in that they ultimately want sports betting legalized and regulated across the country. Both DraftKings and FanDuel will launch sports event contracts in states where online sports betting is not legal. FanDuel specified that these contracts will only be available in such states, and that when a new state legalizes online sports betting, the contracts will no longer be available there.

The move comes amid an eruption in prediction markets, a sector that has sparked both interest and legal controversy. Platforms like Kalshi, Robinhood, and Crypto.com are navigating court challenges in multiple states, while Polymarket recently cleared regulatory hurdles and is relaunching in the U.S. after having been barred for three years under the prior administration.

What’s the Difference?

The legal battle centers on whether there is any distinction between traditional sports betting and sports event contracts. Traditional sports betting is regulated on a state-by-state basis in the U.S., while prediction-markets platforms like Kalshi have been offering sports event contracts in all 50 states. Currently, 38 states and Washington, D.C., allow some form of online betting (Missouri is set to become the 39th state on Dec. 1).

Nigel Eccles, who cofounded FanDuel in 2009, recognizes that on the surface it’s hard to tell the difference between sports betting and trading on event contracts. 

“A bet on the Giants feels like a bet on the Giants,” he tells Front Office Sports. 

The distinction lies in the details. With sportsbooks, users bet against the house, which profits when players lose. Prediction markets operate as peer-to-peer exchanges where participants bet against one another, prices adjust dynamically, and the platform makes money through fees. 

“There’s a difference, even though at the core it looks similar,” says Eccles, who now runs BetDEX Labs, a betting exchange based in Scotland, as well as BetHog, a crypto-based company out of Belize that offers online casino games.

Kalshi and Polymarket, viewed as the two primary platforms, have each ballooned in value recently. Both companies raised money over the summer—Kalshi landed $300 million at a $5 billion valuation, and even more recently raised $1 billion at an $11 billion valuation, according to TechCrunch. Polymarket, meanwhile, reached a deal for the operator of the New York Stock Exchange to invest up to $2 billion at an $8 billion valuation. Both have reportedly received recent takeover interest.

They may be considered the incumbents, but the market is getting crowded. President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform is getting in on the game through an “exclusive” agreement with Crypto.com, and other players include PrizePicks, Underdog, and Novig. Fanatics is also plotting a prediction-markets platform, and Coinbase is reportedly working on a prediction-markets platform that will be powered by Kalshi.

“This market has exploded so quickly, 12 months ago it barely existed,” JB Mackenzie, VP and GM of futures and international at Robinhood, recently told FOS.

A Friendlier Administration

The explosion comes during a presidential administration that has been more favorable to prediction markets than its predecessor. The CFTC had opposed prediction markets under the Biden Administration.

Mike Selig, Trump’s new nominee to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission—the federal regulator charged with policing event contracts—continuously deferred to the courts when asked about sports event contracts by a panel of lawmakers Wednesday. On Thursday, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry voted to advance his nomination. The vote was along party lines, with 12 Republicans voting yes and 11 Democrats voting no. His nomination now moves to the full Senate. It is not clear when that vote will take place. 

It’s been a frenetic few months in the world of prediction markets. How will this all shake out? Depending on who you ask, you get a different answer.

Gaming law and sports betting attorney Daniel Wallach has been critical of the CFTC taking no action and effectively allowing prediction-markets platforms to self-certify event contracts—an approach that platforms then cite as evidence that they have federal oversight. He has called this a “regulatory capture.” He and other legal experts think this issue could wind up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court; Andrew Kim, a litigator at Goodwin Procter, recently pointed out on social media that Kalshi, Crypto.com, and Nevada’s gaming regulator have all hired “experienced Supreme Court counsel as their outside counsel.”

Greg Bettinelli, a partner at The Chernin Group, said during last month’s inaugural FOS Asset Class summit in New York that while it’s still the “early innings” in prediction markets, he doesn’t think consumers overwhelmingly want the product.

“I think the owners of prediction markets want prediction markets,” he said. “It’s an overly complex product for the everyday sports fan and bettor.”

Mark Walter is wasting no time reshaping the Lakers in his image.

Joey and Jesse Buss, members of the family who controlled the franchise for nearly five decades until late last month, have been fired from the front office roles they held, effective immediately, a team source confirmed to Front Office Sports.

The booting of the Buss brothers from the Lakers’ front office is part of a reorganization of the team’s basketball operations department that will also see “much of the scouting staff” fired, according to ESPN.

Joey Buss had served as alternate governor and VP of research and development, while Jesse Buss was assistant general manager.

Walter’s acquisition of a majority stake in the Lakers—a deal made with his longtime business partner Todd Boehly—was completed Oct. 30. The press release announcing the deal had closed said Jeanie Buss would remain team governor and “oversee day-to-day team operations for the foreseeable future.” A representative for Buss did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Joey and I were pushed to the sidelines for well over two years, so while the news of our removal is deeply disappointing, it is not entirely unexpected,” Jesse Buss wrote in an emailed statement to FOS. “Still, it’s incredibly hard to see our time with the Lakers end this way. We grew up in this organization – learning the game, the business, and the responsibility of stewardship directly from our father.

“Even though this isn’t the ending we wanted, we’re grateful for the decades we spent devoting our time to the Lakers and for the relationships and experiences that shaped us. The franchise will always be part of who we are,” the statement read. 

Their father, Jerry Buss, bought the Lakers, Los Angeles Kings, and Los Angeles Forum for $67.5 million in 1979. Their sister Jeanie Buss, 64, has been governor since her father died in 2013. Walter’s acquisition, first announced in June, valued the Lakers at a record $10 billion, surpassing the $6.1 billion sale of the Celtics to a group led by Bill Chisholm announced last spring.  

In a separate statement to ESPN, Jesse Buss said, “Jeanie has effectively kept herself in place with her siblings fired.”

Walter and Boehly also co-own the Dodgers, who have won the last two World Series. In addition to the Lakers and Dodgers, Walter and Boehly’s sports portfolio includes Premier League soccer club Chelsea and the WNBA’s Sparks. 

Led by Luka Dončić, the Lakers are off to a hot start with an 11–4 record this season despite LeBron James having played only one game—he returned to action Tuesday after missing the first 14 games due to sciatica. The Lakers are 8–2 since Walter’s acquisition closed. 

In late September, Joey and Jesse Buss announced the launch of their own investment firm, Buss Sports Capital. The firm will invest across the “global sports ecosystem.” 

“Looking ahead, Buss Sports Capital gives us the chance to take what we’ve learned and what our father instilled in us and build something of our own,” Jesse Buss wrote in the emailed statement. “We’re genuinely excited to invest in teams, athletes, and communities in a way that reflects our values – because carrying our father’s legacy forward doesn’t stop here. It evolves.”

Saudi Arabia’s push into pro sports was prominently featured at a White House dinner Tuesday night celebrating the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The dinner featured 150 guests, including tech titans like Elon Musk and Tim Cook, but also people with notable connections to Saudi sports, such as soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, LIV golfer Bryson DeChambeau, FIFA president Gianni Infantino, and LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil.

From the Saudi side, there was Yasir Othman H. Al-Rumayyan, who runs the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia—which owns LIV and Premier League soccer club Newcastle United. The Saudi visit was aimed at strengthening the relationship between the two countries. The White House said the two sides “finalized a series of landmark agreements,” including on economic and defense issues.

The soccer contingent makes sense—the U.S. is cohosting the 2026 World Cup, and Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup.

The appearance of Ronaldo—who makes more than $200 million annually playing for Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr—was particularly notable because he reportedly hasn’t traveled to the U.S. in more than a decade. That could be due to controversy over sexual assault allegations he faced in the country: In 2019, he was sued and accused of raping a woman in Las Vegas in 2009. The suit also alleged he forced the woman to accept a $375,000 settlement and remain silent about the situation. A federal court determined the woman’s lawyer used stolen documents to help bring the suit, and in November 2023 an appeals court affirmed the lower court’s decision to dismiss the case. The attorney who represented Ronaldo in that case did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In addition to securing the 2034 men’s World Cup, Saudi Arabia has made waves in the world of sports through LIV and investment firm SURJ Sports. It has critics, however, who claim its recent infusion of capital into the global sports world is part of a “sportswashing” campaign to distract from its human rights record, including the fallout from the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Infantino’s presence also served as a reminder that FIFA recently announced a new award to recognize “exceptional actions for peace and unity,” an honor that is widely expected to be given to Trump.

There were other high-profile sports figures who don’t have any known direct Saudi ties, such as 76ers and Devils owner Josh Harris and Lions vice chair William Clay Ford, who is executive chair of Ford Motor Co. Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman was there, too—Blackstone was one of the private-equity firms the NFL approved to invest in teams, although the firm ultimately chose to step away. Last year, Schwarzman pledged $15 million over a period of four years to USA Track & Field.

Even prediction markets got an apparent shout-out. Bin Salman mentioned that he had been informed there were “betting sites” where people could bet on whether he would wear a black suit. “Sorry, you lose the bet,” he said.

Polymarket, one of the primary prediction-markets platforms, does indeed have a market on whether bin Salman will wear a suit and tie “by Thursday,” meaning there’s still time to affect the market.