(The Center Square) – Fanatics Markets prediction market is live in Wisconsin, something that one of the sponsors of a Wisconsin sports wagering bill warned colleagues about before the = bill was delayed reaching an Assembly vote in November.
Prediction markets are similar to sports wagering but purportedly pit one user against other users in predicting the side of a sports event, election or any number of other topics.
Prediction markets have taken off this fall during football season with offerings similar to sportsbooks where operators such as Kalshi offer what they call event contracts. The Ho-Chunk Nation currently has a lawsuit filed against Kalshi for operating in the state.
Larger sportsbook operators such as Fanatics, FanDuel and DraftKings announced they planned to create prediction markets to compete with Kalshi and Polymarket in states that do not have legalized sports wagering such as Wisconsin.
Fanatics said it is live in 24 states as of Wednesday including Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Washington.
Fanatics launched with offering in sports, finance, economics and politics and said that early in 2026 it will add crypto, stocks/IPOs, climate, pop culture, tech/AI, movies and music.
Prediction markets are regulated federally through the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and do not require separate state taxes that Wisconsin would receive while the tribes would pay the state a revenue share based upon amended compacts that would have to be approved by the U.S. Department of Interior.
Kalshi was hit with a large-scale class action lawsuit during the week of Thanksgiving claiming the company is operating unlicensed sports betting and the company wasn’t clear who they were betting against.
Rep. Tyler August, R-Walworth, warned colleagues that prediction markets would be coming to the state swiftly, a reason to pass his bill, which would create an opening to allow the state’s 11 tribes to offer online sports wagering.
“If we leave a gray area in state law, national prediction platforms will fill it without our compact framework, Wisconsin oversight, or Wisconsin consumer safeguards,” August wrote. “AB 601 does the opposite: it channels activity into a regulated, Wisconsin-based, compacted environment with clear jurisdiction and accountability. This protects consumers, respects tribal sovereignty, and keeps revenue tied to Wisconsin operations rather than flowing to unaligned national apps.”
Fanatics Market launched in Florida, which has a hub-and-spoke legal sports wagering model similar to the one proposed in Wisconsin but only allows wagering through the Seminole tribe and the Hard Rock Bet app. A new Florida bill filed on Dec. 2 attempts to make offering any internet gaming or sports wagering outside of the Seminole tribe illegal.
The Sports Betting Alliance – which represents DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Fanatics and Bet365 – has said it supports Wisconsin increasing its mobile sports wagering to statewide but believes the state should allow for a change that would allow those companies to work with the tribes and pay less than the 60% of gross revenue required by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act for its services, an amount that SBA Counsel Damon Stewart said would be too much to allow those companies to operate in the state.
