E297 - Peter Hammon

On this episode of the Business of Betting Podcast, Jeff Edelstein sits down with Peter Hammon, gaming attorney and consultant at Vela Wood, to discuss prediction markets, exchange wagering, regulatory risk, and the legal battles that could shape the future of sports betting in America.

Hear them discuss:

• Why prediction markets have created a modern-day gold rush for operators, market makers, and investors looking to capitalize on a rapidly evolving opportunity
• The growing role of market makers and liquidity providers operating across sportsbooks, prediction markets, and international trading platforms
• How companies like Kalshi, Polymarket, Fanatics, Novig, and Sporttrade are positioning themselves for a future where prediction markets and sports betting increasingly overlap
• The legal and regulatory risks facing businesses operating across both state-regulated sportsbooks and federally regulated prediction markets
• Whether prediction markets have become too big to fail and why Peter believes the ultimate question centers on state versus federal authority over sports wagering
• Why Kalshi is emphasizing non-sports markets as it prepares for future legal and regulatory challenges
• The similarities between prediction markets, exchange wagering, poker, and peer-to-peer betting models, and why many of these concepts have existed for years under different names
• Peter’s journey into gaming law, from launching the UCLA Gaming Law Association to joining Smarkets and helping shape the early exchange wagering movement in the United States
• How Daily Fantasy Sports helped pave the way for PASPA’s repeal and fundamentally changed the trajectory of legal sports betting in America
• California’s ongoing sports betting stalemate, the leverage prediction markets may be giving tribal operators, and why the state's unique geography continues to shape the debate

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