bet365 has ended its membership with the American Gaming Association (AGA), with the operator citing the trade body’s retail casino industry focus as its reason for stepping away. The departure makes bet365 the latest major sports betting operator to leave the AGA, following FanDuel, DraftKings, and Fanatics Sportsbook.
The AGA confirmed the change to Global Gaming Insider. bet365’s exit has prompted speculation about whether the operator is preparing to enter the prediction markets sector, though the company has directly addressed those questions.
bet365’s position on prediction markets
bet365 told Global Gaming Insider: “As a digital-first operator, bet365 has pulled back from the AGA due to the organization’s focus on the retail casino industry. We greatly value our industry partnerships and remain committed to working constructively with regulators and partners across the markets in which we operate.”
The statement makes no reference to prediction markets. At the time of writing, bet365 has not filed with the National Futures Association (NFA) to begin offering event contract trading, and the company previously had no plans to enter the sector.
FanDuel, DraftKings, and Fanatics Sportsbook each chose to end their AGA membership over a disagreement on prediction market operations. That context led to widespread speculation that bet365’s departure carried the same signal, but the operator’s filing record and public comments suggest otherwise.
A trade alliance under pressure
The wave of departures has reshaped US sports betting’s trade association landscape. Sportradar and OpenBet left the AGA in January 2026, a move attributed in part to their clients’ growing involvement in prediction markets.
All four sports betting operators — FanDuel, DraftKings, Fanatics Sportsbook, and bet365 — remain members of the Sports Betting Alliance (SBA). SBA Chairman Jeremy Kudon has stated that any Alliance involvement in prediction markets “would be a mistake.”
The AGA, for its part, has been vocal on the regulatory gap around prediction markets. On 13 January, AGA President and CEO Bill Miller and Indian Gaming Association (IGA) Chairman David Bean issued a joint letter to US lawmakers calling for legislative action. The letter stated: “we write to urge timely congressional action to address the explosion of unregulated sports event contracts being offered by prediction markets.”
Miller and Bean argued the sector had expanded by exploiting inaction from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which they said undermined state law, Tribal sovereignty, and existing consumer protection frameworks in federal law.
Prediction markets backdrop
The debate is playing out against a backdrop of rapid growth in the prediction markets sector. Kalshi, which raised $300m in 2025, completed a further fundraise in March 2026 at a reported $22bn valuation, placing it above Flutter Entertainment, Aristocrat, DraftKings, and Entain by that measure.
Regulators in several jurisdictions have taken steps to address the sector. The Danish Gambling Authority acknowledged in February 2026 it lacked the tools to block prediction market offerings that do not specifically target Danish consumers. In the US, Nevada courts issued a restraining order against Polymarket, and the Nevada Gaming Board launched legal action against Coinbase over unlicensed sports event contracts.
The AGA’s letter to Congress and the series of high-profile membership departures suggest the trade association fault lines will continue to widen as operators decide whether to remain outside prediction markets or file with the NFA to enter the sector. For bet365, at least for now, the answer appears to be the former.
Source: Global Gaming Insider
