TLDR The Massachusetts Gaming Commission says it receives prediction market complaints it has no power to resolve. Chair Jordan Maynard told a US House subcommittee on November 11 that users confuse the two systems. Prediction markets generally allow users aged 18 and over, while state sportsbooks require users to be 21. State age checks have blocked at least 11,000 underage attempts to open sportsbook accounts. Licensed sportsbooks have paid over $1 million in fines and returned nearly $10 million to customers.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission says people are coming to it for help with prediction markets it does not oversee. The state regulator has no power to settle those complaints and sends consumers to a federal agency instead.
Commission chair Jordan Maynard raised the issue in testimony to a US House subcommittee on Wednesday, November 11. He said the contacts show many users cannot tell the difference between a state-licensed sportsbook and a prediction market platform.
An MGC spokesperson told Gambling Insider that the commission has been flooded with complaints it cannot resolve. Those consumers are referred to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which oversees the platforms.
A Three-Year Age Gap
One clear difference between the two systems is the minimum age. Licensed sportsbooks in Massachusetts require users to be at least 21 years old.
Prediction markets generally allow users aged 18 and over to trade event contracts. These contracts are treated as federally regulated financial derivatives, not wagers. Regulators in several states dispute that position.
Maynard said the state’s age checks have worked at licensed sportsbooks. According to his written testimony, required age-verification technology stopped at least 11,000 attempts by people under 21 to open accounts.
The state also sets daily, weekly and monthly limits on deposits and wagers. Massachusetts bans proposition bets on individual college