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Catch up on some of the stories our payments/gambling compliance analysts have covered lately, and stay up-to-date on the latest news.

Sports Contracts Gambling, Not Financial Instruments, Says AGA Commissioned-Survey

A new survey commissioned by the American Gaming Association (AGA) suggests that a large majority of Americans believe sports-event contracts should be treated like other forms of sports betting and fall under state and tribal regulatory authority, not federal commodities regulators.

The research published on Wednesday (September 10) found 85 percent of respondents believe sports-event contracts, like those offered by prediction market operators Kalshi or Robinhood, are most like gambling, while 6 percent said they are most like financial instruments.

In addition, the YouGov survey found 80 percent of Americans believe sports-event contracts should be regulated like other online sports betting and 65 percent believe these bets should be overseen by state and tribal gaming regulators, not the federal Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Other findings included 84 percent of Americans, and 69 percent of sports bettors, say sports-events contracts should only be available in state-licensed sportsbooks in the states where they are offered.

Sixty-nine percent of Americans believe each state should have a say on whether sports-events contracts can be offered in their state, while 70 percent of those surveyed believe prediction platforms offering event contracts are exploiting loopholes to act as unlicensed sportsbooks.

“This research makes it clear: Americans know a sports bet when they see one, and they expect prediction markets offering sports-event contracts to be held to the same rules and consider safeguards as every other state-regulated sportsbook,” Bill Miller, AGA president and CEO, said in a statement.

Miller stressed that this underscores the need for the CFTC to “enforce and uphold its own regulations that prohibit gaming contracts.” He also called on Congress to use its oversight power to ensure prediction markets are not being used “as a backdoor for gaming.”

NCAA Permanently Bans Players For Gambling

The National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Committee on Infractions confirmed Wednesday (September 10) that three basketball players from Fresno State and San Jose State have had their eligibility permanently revoked for violating sports gambling rules.

According to the NCAA’s investigation, Mykell Robinson and Steven Vasquez, previously at Fresno State before Vasquez transferred to San Jose State, bet on Robinson’s stat lines in a January 2024 game in which he planned on under-performing.

Robinson and Jalen Weaver, teammates at Fresno State, also won a prop bet on Weaver’s performance in a December 2024. In January 2025, Robinson and Vasquez, who was then competing for San Jose State, discussed over text message that Robinson planned to underperform in several statistical categories during one regular-season game.

The NCAA also confirmed that Robinson, Vasquez, and Weaver have been released from their respective teams and are no longer enrolled at their previous schools. Both Fresno State and San Jose State are members of the Mountain West Conference, which did not respond to a request for comment.

The three cases were resolved via negotiated resolution in coordination with the student-athletes' schools, per infractions process operating procedures.

Robinson and Vasquez informed the enforcement staff that they did not wish to participate in the processing of their respective cases. Weaver did participate and agreed to the violation in his case.

FAIR BET Act Blocked From U.S. Defense Spending Bill

An effort by Democratic Representative Dina Titus, whose congressional district includes the Las Vegas Strip, to restore the 100 percent gambling loss tax deduction as an amendment to the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has been blocked.

The Republican majority on the House Rules Committee rejected her amendment to the NDAA on Tuesday (September 9), which is an annual federal law that authorizes funding and establishes policy for the Department of Defense and related defense activities for fiscal year 2026.

The current fiscal year ends on September 30. Titus’ amendment would have reversed the changes included in the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act that would allow gamblers to deduct 90 percent of their gambling losses in a given year.

Currently, Internal Revenue Service code allows 100 percent deduction of gambling losses.

“Unfortunately, the GOP-controlled Rules Committee did not accept the FAIR BET Act as an amendment to the NDAA,” Titus said in a post on X. “This was an easy fix that should have been adopted. Nonetheless, I will continue to build support to restore the 100 percent gambling loss deduction.”

The gambling tax code change goes into effect in 2026 and will not affect gamblers’ tax returns for the 2025 tax year.

Known as , the three-line Fair Accounting for Income Realized from Betting Earnings Taxation Act, or FAIR BET Act, is still pending in the House Ways and Means Committee.

During a Ways and Means Committee field hearing on July 25 in Las Vegas, committee chair Representative Jason Smith, a Republican from Missouri, said that members from both sides of the political aisle are open to working to address the issue before it goes into effect on January 1.

Modernization Of AML, BSA Regimes Needed, FinCEN Chief Says

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) believes there is a need to modernize the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), and the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) regimes, the agency’s director told a congressional committee on Tuesday (September 9).

In terms of modernizing AML/CFT requirements, FinCEN director Andrea Gacki said there was an “urgent need” to create a regime that is effective, risk-based, and focused on the greatest threats to financial institutions and national security.

The updated regulations would allow financial institutions, including casinos, to de-prioritize lower risks.

“In line with the AML Act’s directive, this includes an acknowledgement that financial institutions must be permitted to direct more attention and resources toward high-risk customers and activities, consistent with an institution’s risk profile, rather than toward lower-risk customers and activities,” Gacki the House Committee on Financial Services.

Gacki also told lawmakers that when it comes to changes to the BSA regime, the agency is exploring ways to streamline Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs) reporting, including by improving the forms. She explained it was critical for financial institutions to be able to direct their compliance resources toward the most significant threat.

The exact total of SARs filed by U.S. casinos last year is not yet available, but FinCEN received approximately 4.6 million in 2023 filed by financial institutions overall. Since casinos are required to file SARs, their filings would have been part of the official data for 2023.

Robinhood Replaces Caesars In S&P 500

Robinhood Markets will replace Caesars Entertainment in the S&P 500 index, a move that was made as part of a quarterly rebalancing by the exchange.

The change will take effect before the markets open on September 22. Robinhood’s upcoming inclusion follows Coinbase’s entry into the S&P 500 in May, and after its announcement last month that it would be adding professional and college football prediction markets to its trading platform.

Caesars was being downgraded to the S&P SmallCap 600 because its market capitalization fell below the minimum $22.7bn threshold to be included in the large-cap index, according to. Caesars' posted market capitalization was $5.35bn.

As of Tuesday (September 9), the three gaming company stocks remaining in the S&P 500 were Las Vegas Sands and MGM Resorts International, both traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and Wynn Resorts, which trades on the Nasdaq market. Previously, Penn Entertainment was removed from the index in September 2022.

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