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Brian Quintenz’s nomination to be the next chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has been sidelined for the second time in the last week, this time at the request of the White House.
The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry was scheduled to vote on his nomination on Monday (July 28) but the committee removed Quintenz’s name from the meeting schedule, replacing it with Richard Fordyce to be undersecretary of Agriculture for Farm Production and Conservation.
Fordyce’s nomination was approved with bipartisan support. Michael Boren, the nominee for undersecretary for natural resources and environment at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, advanced on a party-line vote.
“I can confirm that the White House requested the delay,” Sara Lasure, a spokeswoman for committee chairman John Boozman, a Republican from Arkansas, told Vixio GamblingCompliance.
Lasure declined to comment on when the committee might schedule a new time for a vote, instead recommending contacting the White House “for any other questions.”
Messages left with the White House press office on Tuesday were not returned.
President Donald Trump nominated Quintenz for the position in February. Quintenz is a former CFTC commissioner and a board member and shareholder of Kalshi. Quintenz wrote to the CFTC’s Office of the General Counsel in May to state that he would resign from Kalshi’s board if confirmed as the new CFTC chair.
Quintenz reiterated that position a month later during a nomination hearing, while assuring members of the Agriculture committee that if confirmed he would also divest stock options he holds in Kalshi, as well as recuse himself from any matter involving the company.
Bloomberg News reported Quintenz remains President Trump’s choice to run the CFTC despite the latest delay.
Last week, Quintenz’s nomination was removed from the committee’s agenda reportedly after Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, of Mississippi, was unable to attend the hearing due to a delayed flight, causing the vote to be delayed a week.
Quintenz’s expected confirmation as chairman of the CFTC was hoped to benefit sports events contracts offered by prediction markets, such as Kalshi, which have become a contentious issue for the gaming industry.
Kalshi officials have made it clear that these wagers are not traditional sports betting because they are not played against the house but traded between users who purchase event contracts on either side of a game’s outcome.
Currently, CFTC Regulation 40.11 prohibits event contracts that reference certain topics, including terrorism, assassination, war gaming and gaming, or anything that is unlawful under any state or federal law that relates to those activities or is determined to be contrary to the public interest.
During his nomination hearing in June, Quintenz said he would allow prediction markets to offer sports event contracts, unless a lawsuit prohibits the contracts, or Congress bans them.
The CFTC oversees the Commodities Exchange Act, which Quintenz believes allows brokers to offer sports event contracts to customers. Kalshi and other brokers argue that it pre-empts state attempts to regulate the contracts.
Opponents stress that sports event contracts are sports betting and should be regulated by state gaming regulators. Nevada and New Jersey regulators have also made it clear that legal sports betting provides a safe and responsible way to wager and provides economic value to their states.
As federally regulated exchanges, prediction markets are permitted in all 50 states.
BetMGM Monitoring Prediction Markets
Adam Greenblatt, CEO at BetMGM, made it clear during the company’s second quarter earnings call on Tuesday that in relation to prediction markets, “we are monitoring this very closely” but has no desire to be a first-mover into the area.
“Very closely means daily including all court proceedings … new entrants returning to the U.S,” Greenblatt said. “Assessing daily the wide-ranging possible outcomes.”
Polymarket, which announced on July 22 that it had acquired QCX, a small derivatives exchange approved by the CFTC, alongside clearinghouse QC Clearing, is poised to re-enter the U.S. market.
Meanwhile, DraftKings has weighed in on entry into prediction markets with the potential acquisition of Railbird, which was founded in 2021 and received CFTC approval as a designated contract market in June. DraftKings also withdrew an application it filed last year with the National Futures Association for a new business known as DraftKings Predict.
In May, Flutter Entertainment, parent of FanDuel, told analysts during a first quarter earnings call that it was “closely monitoring” prediction markets and felt an existing product could give it an edge. Flutter operates Betfair Exchange in Europe, which allows customers to bet against each other rather than a bookmaker.
Flutter is scheduled to announce second-quarter earnings on August 7.
“We have the ability, we don’t have the desire to be a first mover,” Greenblatt said of BetMGM’s potential entrance into the prediction market space. The company is a 50-50 partnership between MGM Resorts International and Entain.
“Our state regulators have been very clear. Our tribal partners have been very clear. Thirty-four state attorneys general have been very clear. They don’t believe prediction markets should offer sports contracts. They would argue that it’s sport betting.”
