Sports betting should be regulated as a financial product, not gambling, aspiring prediction market provider says

Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky said his institution volition modulation to a national Designated Contract Market model this summertime to motorboat successful each 50 states, portion 57 Maiden's Adam Mastrelli said helium was banned from 2 large sportsbooks wrong 2 months for being “sharp."

May 9, 2026, 5:00 p.m. 2 min read

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Sports betting should beryllium regulated arsenic a national fiscal merchandise alternatively than a state-licensed casino product, 2 panelists said Thursday.

Appearing astatine Consensus Miami 2026, Jacob Fortinsky, co-founder and CEO of sports betting level Novig, said the bequest sportsbook exemplary is structurally breached due to the fact that it treats winning bettors arsenic cheaters.

"Sports betting is truly the lone manufacture successful the state that regularly limits and bans their powerfulness users," Fortinsky said. He framed sports lawsuit contracts arsenic binary fiscal instruments that "for truthful agelong person been treated arsenic a gambling merchandise and alternatively should truly beryllium treated arsenic a fiscal product." Globally, helium said, sports betting is "a $2 trillion plus people inactive dominated by these bequest casinos."

Adam Mastrelli, laminitis of 57 Maiden, a steadfast that builds AI-driven trading strategies for prediction markets, validated the critique with idiosyncratic experience.

"My spouse and I got kicked disconnected of 2 large sportsbooks wrong 2 months of trading due to the fact that we were sharp," helium said, It's similar "LeBron James getting kicked retired of the NBA for being excessively good," helium added.

Mastrelli said the squad turned to Novig, which helium said charges nary fees and allows traders to make synthetic positions.

Mastrelli said his firm's borderline decayed quickly, and of 154 projected trading strategies, lone 3 presently tally profitably.

"This borderline volition spell away," helium said, "so if you tin physique systems that tin support up with that borderline and that alpha… past it becomes really, truly intriguing." His astir profitable season, helium said, was the WNBA.

Fortinsky said Novig is connected way to modulation this summertime from a sweepstakes exemplary unrecorded successful 35 states to a national DCM model that volition fto it run successful each 50 states. An earlier effort to beryllium regulated astatine the authorities level successful Colorado, helium said, was a wake-up call. "Regulators told america fundamentally you're naive if you deliberation we attraction astir user extortion oregon innovation oregon marketplace efficiency. We truly conscionable attraction astir our taxation revenue," helium said.

The federal-state fight, Fortinsky added, is "going to get to the Supreme Court successful the adjacent 2 oregon 3 years," with 15 pending lawsuits betwixt the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Kalshi, Robinhood and assorted states. Within prediction markets, helium argued sports is "counterintuitively really the safest vertical," fixed the bigger insider-trading and manipulation concerns astir governmental and event-driven contracts.

Mastrelli, who said helium avoids offshore platforms entirely, compared prediction markets to equities exchanges: "When I spot a robust equities marketplace now, this is AQR against SIG. It doesn't spell away."