Donald Trump Jr. urged Republican state attorneys general to ease pressure on prediction markets during a private March meeting, The New York Times reported, arguing that established gambling companies were trying to protect their businesses from competitors such as Kalshi and Polymarket.
But within weeks, most of the leadership of the group he addressed publicly took a markedly different position.
- Trump Jr. spoke at the Republican Attorneys General Association's winter national meeting in New Orleans in March, according to The New York Times.
- The gathering ran from March 11 to March 13.
Seven of nine RAGA leaders pushed the other way
On April 30, a bipartisan coalition of 41 attorneys general urged the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to recognize states' authority over sports-related prediction contracts, arguing that the products had effectively become unregulated sportsbooks.
The Coinformer found that seven of the nine members of RAGA's 2026 executive committee signed the April 30 letter urging the CFTC to recognize states' authority over sports-related prediction contracts.
They included attorneys general from Nebraska, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kansas. RAGA's chairman, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, and West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey were the only two executive-committee members absent from the coalition.
Instead, the attorneys general argued specifically that sports event contracts should remain subject to state gambling laws rather than being placed exclusively under federal commodities regulation.
Still, that position cuts against the industry's central legal argument. Kalshi maintains that its contracts fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the CFTC and should not be regulated as state gambling products.
- Trump Jr. has financial and advisory ties to both sides of the prediction market duopoly.
- He is a paid strategic adviser to Kalshi, while 1789 Capital, the venture firm where he is a partner, invested in Polymarket, whose advisory board he also joined.
The state fight is getting bigger
The disagreement is no longer theoretical as Connecticut sued Kalshi on Aug. 26, seeking to stop the platform from offering sports contracts that state officials describe as unlicensed gambling. The state said the products expose consumers and minors to risks while bypassing protections imposed on licensed sportsbooks.
Kalshi has argued in court that federal commodities law preempts those state restrictions. But a Connecticut federal judge earlier this month rejected its attempt to stop state enforcement while the litigation continues.
That leaves Trump Jr.'s reported lobbying effort facing resistance not merely from Democratic officials or established gambling interests, but from much of the leadership of the Republican attorneys general organization he addressed in March.