Enacts the oversight and regulation of activity for contracts linked to events (ORACLE) act to provide for requirements and restrictions on prediction markets.
This bill creates a new Article 48 of the General Business Law to regulate “prediction markets” in New York under the proposed “ORACLE” Act. It defines prediction markets and related terms, then imposes a broad set of consumer-protection, disclosure, and operational rules on prediction market platform providers. Among other things, it requires age verification with a minimum age of 21, self-exclusion tools, spending and time limits, hotline disclosures, employee training, settlement-source transparency, restrictions on advertising and promotions, and prohibitions on credit-card funding and gift certificates.
The bill also bars New York users from participating in several categories of prediction markets, including catastrophic event markets, political markets, death markets, security markets, and athletic event markets. It further prohibits platforms from using certain market makers tied to gaming activity, requires detection and reporting of fraud, insider trading, and manipulation, and authorizes the Attorney General to issue rules and enforce the article through civil penalties and injunctions. The bill also amends the Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law to prohibit licensed or otherwise regulated gaming entities from offering prediction markets to New York consumers, with fines and possible loss of gaming licenses for violations.
If enacted, the bill would add a new regulatory framework to the General Business Law governing prediction market platforms and would also amend the Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law to keep licensed gaming entities out of the prediction market business. It would create new compliance obligations for platform providers, expand enforcement authority for the Attorney General, the State Gaming Commission, and the State Police, and establish civil penalties, cease-and-desist authority, and potential shutdown remedies. The bill would also affect consumers by restricting access to certain event-based markets and by imposing age, funding, and advertising limits on participation.
No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of debate or formal support/opposition in the available materials. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears strongly protective and restrictive in tone, reflecting concern about gambling-like risks, consumer harm, and market integrity. The structure of the bill suggests an intent to tightly control prediction markets rather than authorize them broadly.
The main points of contention likely involve whether prediction markets should be treated as a legitimate financial product or as a form of gambling requiring heavy restriction. The bill’s broad prohibitions on political, athletic, security, death, and catastrophic-event markets, along with its ban on licensed gaming entities participating at all, would likely draw opposition from prediction market operators, gaming interests, and possibly financial-market advocates. Supporters would likely emphasize consumer protection, anti-manipulation safeguards, and limits on problematic or socially sensitive wagering, especially around elections, disasters, and public health crises.