Polymarket CEO Shane Coplan has branded traditional sportsbooks as a “scam” at a recent media event.
Speaking at Axios Live with Dan Primack, the business editor of Axios’s newsletter and a former Fortune journalist, Coplan discussed the legality of prediction markets.
Coplan calls traditional sportsbooks a scam
Coplan made the blockbuster remarks in relation to his views on sportsbooks being able to alter the odds and to “profile” successful bettors.
The CEO’s through line was the legality and regulation of sportsbooks, with comments on lobbying and the established norms for how gaming operators run and apply for licenses.
“In America, there is the idea of capitalism, idealism, competition,” he said when speaking about traditional regulated betting. “You can only trade against the house; they can go and ban you if you make money, they can change the prices based on you, that is a scam.”
Polymarket has been at odds with state legislation, and, as we have extensively reported, prediction markets have been under intense scrutiny nationwide.
Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB), Kevin F. O’Toole, issued a warning that these outcome markets are a “significant threat” to the state’s existing legislation.
The Arizona Department of Gaming (ADG) and its Ohio counterpart have issued strong statements on the legitimacy of licenses for operators in the prediction market business.
News: Ohio Regulator Warns Sportsbooks About Offering Prediction Markets
Letter from the Ohio Casino Control Commission says that launching sports event contracts or working with prediction markets like Kalshi could put a sportsbook’s license in jeopardyhttps://t.co/TOVLxHwgWg
— Dustin Gouker (@DustinGouker) August 25, 2025
Licensing in states is a complicated process
Primack levied a question at Polymarket’s legality, saying, “What is the argument that Polymarket, betting on (the outcome) of the same game, should be legal? The argument is that you (Polymarket) have found a loophole.”
The CEO’s response appeared to be cagey, mentioning a “duopoly” in U.S. sports betting and that “it’s so Goddamned expensive that no new entrants can enter the market.”
Licensing in states, especially when it comes to the number of permitted operators, varies widely, with lotteries and permission to operate casino and online betting environments incredibly limited.
Bally’s, for example, has gone through an extensive saga of community-driven opposition. New York’s departing Mayor Eric Adams then U-turned on a vote on the casino environment to approve the betting company’s billion-dollar bid, which had taken years to process.
The Polymarket CEO continued discussing the state-level process, saying, “There’s this patchwork, state-based system where every single state involves some kind of backdoor lobbying, ‘the tribes get this,’ ‘the tax rate is this.’ It’s a hodgepodge solution.”
Primack interjected to Coplan that a number of new entrants, such as Fanatics and MGM, have attempted to breach the established norms set by DraftKings and FanDuel’s strong stance across the United States.
“If you look at all of those products (competition to Polymarket), they are all identical, none of them innovate, and they all rip off the consumer, respectively.”
The host asked Coplan to comment on the possibility of the Supreme Court intervening to decide the fate of prediction markets.
“I think at some point,” said the Polymarket founder, “If you are listing derivatives in America, there’s this thing called impartial access; anyone in America should have access to it…they are derivatives and should be regulated as derivatives.”
When pressed on the prediction market’s purpose and relation to being in the gambling business, Coplan doubled back to derivatives being their own federally regulated entity and operating within that set framework.
“It’s not philosophical; there are different regulatory frameworks for offering derivatives and being an OSB (online sports betting provider) betting app or some other form of gambling that is basically an entertainment product, rigged against you.”
There is a rising tide of opposition to prediction markets, with one advocate of improved regulation, State Senator Joseph Addabbo Jr., seeking legal counsel on how to open new legislative action in the coming January session in Coplan’s home state of New York.
Sen Abbado told ReadWrite, “These particular markets have very little guidelines or guardrails or safety measures for those who may have a gaming addiction. That’s my primary concern.”
Featured image: Axios live via YouTube
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