La Fiesta

About La Fiesta

Though Maryland, Virginia, and New York do not have iGaming, prediction markets offering trading on everything from sports to politics continue to make their platforms accessible. Controversial sweepstakes casinos additionally continue to operate in Virginia and Maryland.

The American Gaming Association (AGA) believes many federally regulated prediction markets have transformed into illegal gambling and sports betting outfits, siphoning revenue from the legal, taxed gaming industry. Prediction markets, the trade group argues, threaten jobs and tax revenue, as do other forms of illegal gambling like skill games, sweepstakes casinos, and offshore sportsbooks.

Illegal gambling operators are thriving at the expense of American consumers, siphoning billions in tax revenue from state governments, and undercutting the efforts of the legal market,” said AGA President and CEO Bill Miller. “It’s time for a national crackdown on the pervasive illegal market that is draining state coffers and putting people at risk.”

What is La Fiesta?

While sports event contracts remain the headline-grabbers for prediction market operators, there’s evidence that other categories are experiencing growth. As Bernstein points out, cryptocurrency event contracts account for at least 20% of the turnover on the two largest prediction markets.

In another encouraging non-sports sign, one of those operators notched just $2 million in commodities volume last year, but that figure surpassed $410 million in August alone and is approaching $600 million on a year-to-date basis.

Bernstein estimates the global market for financial contracts will grow to $900 trillion by 2035, up from $700 trillion last year, and if prediction markets capture just 0.5% of that total, volume would increase by $4.7 trillion per year.

How to play La Fiesta

Independent analysis by Bettormetrics found Kambi partners either led or shared the lead on measures including time to market, live uptime and bet delay. It also outperformed its B2C and B2B competitors on live uptime in World Cup markets including over/unders on total goals.

“All the testing in the world cannot tell you precisely where you stand against the rest of the market on key aspects of the product,” Lamb says. “It was very positive to see Kambi as a leader in these key metrics.”

The way customers used the offering was equally instructive. Bets outside the match-winner market accounted for 63% of pre-match turnover, compared with 57% in 2022, reinforcing the importance of depth beyond traditional markets.