iGT coverage
322 articles on United States, newest first. For the regulator, licensing, tax and legal status, see the United States profile.
Light & Wonder has made de-leveraging its balance sheet the company's overriding priority after its second-quarter earnings call, with CFO Oliver Chow setting a target of three times cash flow by mid-2027. The shift signals a strategic recalibration for the gaming supplier after years of acquisition-driven growth, and puts share buybacks firmly on the back burner for the remainder of 2026.
A senior Fanatics executive has publicly argued for stronger consumer protections in the prediction markets sector at the same moment the company is scaling its own event-contract offering, placing the operator in a position that is as commercially revealing as it is regulatory.
A tribal coalition is pressing ahead with a California sports betting ballot initiative aimed at the 2028 election cycle, targeting the world's fifth-largest economy and one of the last major US markets to remain closed to regulated wagering. The campaign would give licensed tribal casinos and four major tracks exclusive control over online and retail sports betting.
Three live bills in the 119th Congress are pulling federal policy on prediction markets in opposite directions: one would create a dedicated regulatory framework, while two others would reclassify event contracts as gambling outright. The outcome will determine whether platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket operate as financial exchanges or face state-level enforcement.
Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James have filed suit against Kalshi, alleging the prediction market platform has operated an unlicensed gambling business in New York since at least 2025, exposing users as young as 18 to betting products that state law reserves for those aged 21 and over. The action demands forfeiture of all illegal gains, consumer restitution, and fines triple the company's unlawful profits.
New Jersey's online casino market accelerated in June 2026, with internet gaming win outpacing every prior comparable month on record, while sports wagering gross revenue suffered its sharpest year-on-year decline of 2026 as punter-friendly outcomes in the NBA Finals and FIFA World Cup games ate into operator margins.
Nevada's landmark lawsuit against Polymarket marks a pivotal shift in the war between state gaming regulators and federally licensed prediction markets, as the "Silver State" seeks to protect its licensing monopoly from Silicon Valley's latest financial innovations.
Three plaintiffs have filed a federal complaint against DraftKings and affiliated entity Gus III, LLC in the District of Massachusetts, the latest legal challenge to land against a major US operator as prediction markets reshape the competitive landscape. The filing adds to a growing body of litigation testing the legal boundaries of sports-event contracts under US gambling law.
A clutch of sell-side notes published in late July and early August 2026 reveals four distinct storylines shaping investor sentiment across the global gaming sector: Churchill Downs pursuing a regional asset sale, MGM anchored by a $48.30 takeover offer, Sportradar absorbing a €9 million FX headwind, and Macau lagging its own recent recovery pace after a soft World Cup and a disruptive typhoon.
The American Gaming Association's full-year Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker confirms the U.S. regulated market has posted its strongest result on record, with iGaming's $10.74 billion haul and a $18.09 billion tax contribution redefining the scale of state-licensed gambling. The AGA used the announcement to sharpen its attack on prediction markets, estimating they have already diverted more than $500 million in potential sports betting tax revenue.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has proposed the first codified framework for vertically integrated market structures in US derivatives markets, targeting the conflicts of interest that arise when an exchange and its market maker share the same ownership. The proposal stops short of an outright ban, but draws a hard line between legitimate liquidity provision and directional proprietary trading.
The two sportsbooks are asking a Pennsylvania court to throw out a closely watched suit that blames their VIP schemes and in-game microbets for two men's gambling addictions, arguing that product-liability law does not reach free mobile apps.
The BetRivers operator lifted second-quarter revenue 46% to a record $393.8 million and raised its full-year guidance, as an online-casino-led approach and a 58% jump in active users drove record profit.
A post-tournament review from B2B supplier DATA.BET offers one of the first detailed reads on how the first 48-team World Cup was actually bet: France drew the most interest, in-play held a steady share, and the knockout rounds outweighed a much larger group stage.
Kalshi has agreed to wall off Nevada users through GeoComply by 12 August or face a $120,000-per-day fine, settling with the state's regulator to avert a contempt proceeding. The deal follows eight test purchases investigators made from inside the state despite the platform's existing blocks.
A Council of Europe-backed integrity body says it identified seven possible betting irregularities across the 2026 World Cup's 104 matches, days after FIFA's own task force reported finding none. The group cautions that its findings are not proof of match-fixing.
The state's licensed operators generated just over $7 billion in the fiscal year to 30 June 2026, a first for Pennsylvania, with online casino revenue up 18.42% carrying the market even as June's monthly total slipped.
A House Agriculture subcommittee has put customer protection and market integrity in sports-event prediction markets on the congressional record for the first time, arriving just as Kalshi's federal lobbying spend approaches a record $990,000 for the opening half of 2026.
A King County judge has granted a preliminary injunction barring Washington residents from accessing Kalshi, ruling the platform likely operates as an "illegal gambling operation" under state law. It makes Washington the fifth state in active litigation against the exchange.
Kalshi, Polymarket and Robinhood's Rothera took roughly 27% of all legal US sports-betting volume during the tournament, up from about 9% in January, according to H2 Gambling Capital. Kalshi drew more daily app users than either DraftKings or FanDuel.
Kalshi's contract on the Argentina versus Spain final has drawn about $1.27 billion in volume, making a single football match the biggest event-contract market ever run. It lands as total World Cup trading across the major platforms nears $25 billion.
Kalshi, Polymarket and Robinhood's new Rothera venue combined for more than $50 billion in trading volume in June, dwarfing the handle traditional US sportsbooks are projected to take across the entire World Cup. The tournament has become the clearest evidence yet that event contracts are competing with regulated betting, not sitting beside it.
A Manhattan federal judge has ruled that Kalshi's federal registration does not shield its sports contracts from New York gambling law, the prediction-market sector's most significant legal setback to date. The decision clears the way for state regulators and the Attorney General to pursue enforcement, and Kalshi has already appealed.
North Carolina's newly signed budget lifts the online sports-betting tax from 18% to 23% of gross wagering revenue and creates a 6% tax on prediction-market operators, the first state levy of its kind. The higher rate makes North Carolina one of the costlier US markets for licensed sportsbooks.