00:00Look, I mean, not quite the huge blow yet for prediction markets, but certainly the state of Arizona, I guess,
00:08Robert, has seen enough.
00:09They have taken their own ball and said, we're going home from you.
00:14Basically, you don't get to play in our state anymore.
00:17Led by their attorney general, Chris Mays, filing criminal charges against Calci for operating in their state.
00:26And so, look, Robert, this is just the story that just keeps happening.
00:30We've seen other states with cease and desist and it's working out.
00:34Talk to me about why this happened specifically in Arizona and what it means moving forward.
00:40Sure. Well, thanks for having me, Craig.
00:41Always a pleasure being on.
00:43Who would have thought that Arizona would be the epicenter of all of the legal battles regarding prediction markets in
00:52the country here?
00:53But, yes, you're correct.
00:53In fact, Attorney General Chris Mays is the first, basically the first state now, to levy criminal charges against a
01:02prediction market company.
01:04Earlier this week, she filed 20 criminal counts against Calci, the prediction market company, basically alleging that it runs and
01:14operates an illegal gambling company in the state.
01:17She says they don't have a license to do so among the counts that they're being charged with are, of
01:25course, sport event contracts, several counts and several counts of election betting.
01:31Interestingly enough, this came four days after Calci filed a preemptive lawsuit against the state of Arizona, which also included
01:43Attorney General Chris Mays.
01:45Basically saying the company says that, look, due to some actions in the past, due to the cease and desist
01:50letter sent by Arizona, that we have to take legal action to preserve our business and preserve our right to
01:59offer these sports event contracts to the people of Arizona.
02:02Well, Calci, the Calci CEO, Tarek Mansoor, has basically said this is nonsense, that it's almost a little bit of
02:13gamesmanship from the Attorney General.
02:15Well, you know, as is every single case, almost every single lawsuit, this really just boils down to, look, who
02:23has regulatory power over these prediction markets, over sport event contracts?
02:29The states say they have the power to regulate them.
02:33Calci and all the other prediction market companies say we don't talk to the states.
02:38We're not under their power.
02:39We're under the federal government's power, under the CFTC regulatory power.
02:46So, look, where this goes, I'm not exactly sure.
02:50I'm not a lawyer.
02:51I'm certainly not an attorney general.
02:53But it just all seems to be coming to a potential head.
02:58I mean, is there any way this does not end up in the Supreme Court in 2027?
03:04It's just that that's where it's going.
03:06That's where it's going to lead.
03:08And until they and until the Supreme Court levies some kind of understanding or ruling on who actually has the
03:16regulatory power over these markets, you're going to be seeing these charges in other states.
03:21It seems like there's another lawsuit either filed by Calci or one of the prediction market companies or filed by
03:29an attorney general against one of these prediction market companies every week.
03:34So it's all coming to a head.
03:35I don't think you're going to see anything prior to 2027.
03:38I think that's probably the earliest the Supreme Court could potentially hear something on this.
03:43But this is just where it's all heading.
03:45And this is just the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of prediction markets and sport event contracts in this
03:53country.
