Posted inInvestigations

Illinois Regulators Say Prediction Markets Are Illegal Gambling, But Bettors — and the Trump Family — Love Them

Prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket rake in millions from wagers on sports and current events but pay nothing in state betting taxes and ignore regulations that govern online sportsbooks.

by Casey Toner and Hannah Meisel March 13, 2026March 13, 2026

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Illinois Regulators Say Prediction Markets Are Illegal Gambling, But Bettors — and the Trump Family — Love Them

by Casey Toner and Hannah Meisel, Illinois Answers Project
March 13, 2026

<h1>Illinois Regulators Say Prediction Markets Are Illegal Gambling, But Bettors — and the Trump Family — Love Them</h1>
<p class="byline">by Casey Toner and Hannah Meisel, Illinois Answers Project <br />March 13, 2026</p>
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University of Chicago freshman Oliver Wilson analyzes interest rates bets on the Polymarket prediction market platform in his Hyde Park apartment late last year. Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan has pledged $20,000 to kickstart Wilson’s prediction market club at his university. (Credit: Victor Hilitski/For Illinois Answers Project)

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Tagged: prediction markets

Casey Toner

ctoner@illinoisanswers.org

Casey Toner, a Chicago native, has been an Illinois Answers reporter since 2016, taking the lead on numerous projects about criminal justice and politics. His series on police shootings in suburban Cook County resulted in a state law requiring procedural investigations of all police shootings in Illinois. Before he joined Illinois Answers, he wrote for the Daily Southtown and was a statewide reporter for Alabama Media Group, a consortium of Alabama newspapers. Outside of work, he enjoys watching soccer and writing music.

More by Casey Toner

Hannah Meisel

Hannah is a statehouse and Chicago reporter for Capitol News Illinois. She has been covering Illinois government and politics since 2014, and since then has worked for a variety of outlets from NPR affiliate stations to a startup newsletter. She’s a graduate of both the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the U of I’s Springfield campus, where she received an M.A. through the Public Affairs Reporting program and got her start reporting in the Capitol.

More by Hannah Meisel