Digital Asset Market Clarity Act fails Senate vote, leaving crypto framework bill dead for 2026 and giving gaming lobby groups a win

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, a long-anticipated federal cryptocurrency framework, failed a key Senate vote this week after falling short of the 60 votes needed to move forward. For gaming stakeholders, that matters because prediction markets and crypto exchanges have become increasingly intertwined, and the bill’s collapse removes a legislative path that tribal gaming and other industry groups had been trying to use to block sports and casino-related contracts.

1. The final tally was 49-50, with four Republican lawmakers breaking ranks to oppose the market structure bill. With midterm elections approaching in November, the legislation now looks dead for 2026 and is unlikely to be revived during the rest of the Congressional session.
2. The obstacle was not just policy disagreement. Lawmakers from both parties said an updated version of the text released Sunday did not do enough on ethics concerns tied to senior officials maintaining or endorsing crypto business relationships. Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego said the bill failed because Republicans would not say no to the president, while Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, the lead Republican negotiator, accused Democrats of “playing games” and not being serious about consumer protection.
3. For gaming stakeholders, the bigger point is that crypto is a major piece of the prediction market equation. Crypto markets have long been the second-largest category of prediction market trading, behind sports, and many crypto exchanges now offer predictions. The companies named in the text include Crypto.com, Coinbase and Gemini.
4. On 16 June, a coalition of gaming lobby groups, state associations and labour unions sent a letter to the Senate asking lawmakers to include language in the bill banning sports and casino-related contracts. Signatories included the American Gaming Association, the Indian Gaming Association, the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers and the UNITE HERE unions. The letter argued that Congress should use crypto legislation to reaffirm that sports betting falls outside the CFTC’s remit and cannot be offered through prediction market platforms.
5. The practical takeaway for PSPs and operators is simple: the Senate vote removes one route for federal clarity on crypto-linked prediction markets, but it also leaves gaming groups without a clean statutory fix on sports and casino contracts. In other words, the issue is still alive in practice, just without this bill as the vehicle.