MGM and Caesars Steer Clear of Prediction Markets to Protect Licences

MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment have both decided against following DraftKings and FanDuel into prediction markets, with senior executives warning that the move could put their core casino licences at risk.

MGM chief executive Bill Hornbuckle and Caesars chief executive Tom Reeg discussed the issue on Tuesday during a panel at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, alongside Wynn Resorts chief executive Craig Billings, according to Legal Sports Report.

Their remarks underline a widening split in the gambling business, as online sportsbook operators move into federally supervised event contracts, including in states where traditional sports betting remains illegal.

MGM had looked at prediction markets after the category broadened beyond its initial focus into sports early in 2025, Hornbuckle said, but the operator pulled back once it weighed the consequences for the rest of its business.

Hornbuckle said Nevada regulators told MGM directly that expanding into the space would affect its standing as a licensee, quoting officials as warning, "If you stretch out and do this, it's going to impact your licensing."

He said MGM dropped the idea shortly afterwards. The Nevada Gaming Control Board has separately cautioned licensees that offering sports event contracts elsewhere in the country could affect their suitability to hold a Nevada licence.

That warning carries weight after Kalshi was pushed out of the state in August, when the Ninth Circuit ruled that federal commodities law does not stop states enforcing their own gambling statutes against prediction market operators.

MGM runs nine resorts on the Las Vegas Strip, among them Bellagio, Aria, the Cosmopolitan, MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay.

Caesars, which operates eight Strip properties including Caesars Palace, Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood, has also examined the sector. Reeg has said previously that Caesars would consider entering only if it could do so without endangering its gaming licences.

Reeg acknowledged the risk of being left behind if sports event contracts are eventually folded into regulated gambling, drawing a comparison with daily fantasy sports before the repeal of PASPA.

"We've lived through this before with [daily fantasy sports]," Reeg said. He went on to describe how DFS operators who worked in a grey market before sports betting was legalised ended up with a head start, adding that the same dynamic could repeat if prediction markets were eventually absorbed into regulated gaming, with early movers benefiting.

Billings said Wynn has limited direct stake in the debate, having exited the US sports betting market in 2023, describing the company as having "no skin in the game." He added, "I'm not commenting on the legality." He then said, "So no direct impact, but certainly indirect impact over time."

Hornbuckle criticised prediction market platforms for letting users as young as 18 trade sports contracts without paying the state gaming taxes or facing the regulatory scrutiny applied to licensed sportsbooks, noting that the legal betting age in many states is 21.

"The age is 18. No taxes, no jobs, and the cavalier approach by these guys [hurts] the industry," Hornbuckle said. He added, "If they want to play by the rules and come to Nevada, god bless 'em."

Reeg raised a separate concern about oversight, citing a Kalshi contract that asked whether Caesars itself would be sold in 2026. He said that despite his inside knowledge as the company's chief executive, nothing in Kalshi's rules would have stopped him trading on the outcome.

"But there was nowhere in their rules that said I couldn't place a bet," Reeg said.

The comments arrive as commercial casino operators, tribal gaming interests and labour groups coordinate a wider push against prediction markets.

DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics each rolled out their own prediction market products over the past year and subsequently left the American Gaming Association, which continues to argue that sports event contracts amount to unlicensed gambling and has supported numerous legal challenges against them.

Court rulings have gone both ways in recent weeks. The Sixth and Ninth circuits have found that states can apply their gambling laws to prediction markets, while the Third Circuit reached the opposite conclusion in a New Jersey case. New Jersey has since asked the US Supreme Court to take up that ruling.