Comment Text:
Dear Chairman and Commissioners,
My name is Zackary Perkins, a business owner from Indiana, and I'm writing to express my strong support for well-regulated prediction markets in response to your Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Prediction Markets, as published in 91 FR 12516. I've struggled my whole life to build something for myself and my family, and platforms like Kalshi have given me a chance I never thought I'd have. They've helped me grow, learn, and find hope, not just through any profits, which have been small, but through the knowledge I've gained. That knowledge is worth more than gold to me, and I believe it can do the same for future generations, including my children and yours.
I actively trade on prediction markets, and I see their value every day. They provide forecasts on elections and public events that are often more accurate than polls or pundits. For my small business, they've been a tool to hedge risks tied to economic or policy changes that could hit my bottom line. This isn't gambling, it's a way to make informed decisions based on research and real-world judgment, just like trading stocks or commodities. Classifying event contracts as "gaming" would be a mistake, they serve real economic purposes like price discovery and risk management. I urge you to consider this in your responses to Questions 15-22 on listed activities.
I'm also worried about over-restricting these markets. Banning or heavily limiting them won't stop people from trading, it'll just push activity to unregulated offshore platforms that are far less safe. Regulated markets like Kalshi, under CFTC oversight, protect consumers and keep the US competitive in financial innovation. We should be leading on this, not ceding ground to other countries. I think your Questions 7-14 on public interest hit on this balance, and I believe innovation and consumer protection can coexist with proportionate rules.
On insider trading and manipulation, addressed in Questions 29-32, I trust the CFTC already has strong tools to tackle bad actors. Enforcing those existing laws is better than broad bans that punish everyone. Informed trading actually improves price discovery, benefiting all of us with better information. I've seen how these markets aggregate data in ways that help not just traders, but the public and policymakers too. And honestly, if we're worried about broader issues like AI or data misuse, let's make specific laws for those, not vague rules that cut off opportunities. Overbroad regulation often misses the mark, like laws on domestic violence that end up hurting more than helping. Let's focus on targeted gains for the public, not restrictions that take options away.
Please support proportionate regulation of prediction markets. Don't ban or over-restrict them. They're a lifeline for people like me, giving the common man a fair shot at understanding and navigating an uncertain world. We need this growth as individuals and as a nation.
Sincerely,
Zackary Perkins
