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Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte spoke candidly to The Players Tribune about his past gambling addiction.
“I was 20. I was at LSU. Full ride. Whole future ahead of me. And I didn’t care at all,” he wrote in the essay. “Some people hit the slots, the tables, the apps, spend what they can spend, and go home — or put the phone down. Not me.
“I’d wake up early in the morning, and the first thing I’d do was bet. I’d stay up late and bet. All day. All night. I had insomnia, so if I woke up in the middle of the night, phone next to the bed, I’d bet. Any little money I had, it was going straight to FanDuel.
“I knew I was addicted. When you lose, and you’re an addict, there’s this voice in the back of your mind like, No, no, no…… I gotta get my money back. I GOTTA get it back.”
Gambling websites have never been more accessible since The US Supreme Court overturned decades of sports betting prohibition.
Today there is no shortage of gambling-related websites from your old school offshore sportsbook to localized bookie platforms to Daily Fantasy sports sites like Underdog and prediction websites including Kalshi.
Congresswoman Demands Answers From Polymarket
Nevada Democratic Congresswoman Dina Titus is questioning recent suspicious trading activity on prediction market sites prior to certain events transpiring.
In light of recent betting activity surrounding the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, I have serious concerns about @Polymarket’s ability, and willingness, to comply with @CFTC regulations.
I am demanding answers from Polymarket CEO @shayne_coplan regarding the safeguards his company has in place to prevent insider trading and ensure that its markets operate fairly and transparently.
In light of recent betting activity surrounding the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, I have serious concerns about @Polymarket’s ability, and willingness, to comply with @CFTC regulations.
I am demanding answers from Polymarket CEO @shayne_coplan regarding the safeguards… pic.twitter.com/fHpjLpsykG— Dina Titus (@repdinatitus) January 9, 2026
Connecticut Files Its Opposition to Kalshi's Motion for Preliminary Injuction
Per gaming attorney Daniel Wallach's X post, Connecticut files its opposition to Kalshi's motion for preliminary injunction, notes that "four successive District Court cases have properly denied event contract offerors’ end-runs around state gambling law." (N.B. -- it's 5 when you include the MA remand order).
Some excerpts per Wallach:
"Granting Kalshi’s motion also means ignoring Kalshi’s admission, weeks before it started offering sports contracts, that 'a contract on the outcome of a sporting event' is a 'classic example” of 'gaming' that should not be 'conducted on derivatives markets' in the first place."
"Kalshi was right. Treating sports wagers as federally regulated derivates is not just legally untenable; it is practically unthinkable."
"If Kalshi’s position is taken seriously, it would disrupt centuries of unquestioned state authority over gambling and transfer it to federal regulators who have never had that authority and do not want it."
“It is absurd to think that Congress intended for DCMs to turn into nationwide gambling venues on every topic under the sun to the exclusion of state regulation and with no comparable federal regulator without ever mentioning that was the goal.”
(pictured above: Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti)
Tennessee the Latest State to Send Cease and Desist Letters to Prediction Markets
Tennessee means business.
Last week, Gambling911.com reported on how Tennessee's Attorney General sent cease and desist letters to sweepstakes casinos ordering them out of the Volunteer State.
Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced in recent days his office has successfully halted the operation of multiple illegal online sweepstakes casinos in Tennessee.
The Attorney General sent formal cease-and-desist letters to almost forty online sweepstakes casinos operating illegally.
According to a statement from the AG's office, "all platforms that received a letter have already disabled the unlawful components of their platforms or have agreed on a date in the coming weeks for winding down their illegal services, effectively shutting down their illegal sweepstakes casinos."
Skrmetti specifically elaborated.
“The only thing you can be sure about with an online sweepstakes casino is that it's going to take your money, said the Attorney General. “They work hard to make these sweepstakes casinos look legitimate, but at the end of the day they are not.
"They avoid any oversight that could ensure honesty or fairness. Our Office was glad to chase these shady operations out of Tennessee and will keep working to protect Tennesseans from illegal gambling.”
Now comes word that the Tennessee Sports Wagering Council has sent out cease-and-desist letters to Kalshi,, Polymarket and Crypto, demanding that they cease offering sports event contracts to TN customers immediately, void all pending contracts and issue refunds by Jan. 31. Lawsuits are imminent, the Council has suggested.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
