Chicken Road

What is Chicken Road?

As the NFL season begins, a state in close proximity to the New England Patriots became the latest to attempt to curb the influence of the trading platforms. On 10 September, one day after the Pats’ season-opening loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont addressed the growth of the markets during a speech in downtown Hartford. On the same day, the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection issued cease-and-desist orders to nine unregulated operators, including Polymarket, Robinhood and Underdog Predict.

“Prediction markets have branded themselves as legal and safe, but the reality is they are not adhering to Connecticut’s consumer protection standards,” Lamont wrote in a statement.

While such orders have become customary around the nation this year, Connecticut’s missive took it one step further. The department also issued nearly 30 subpoenas to licensed gaming service providers and a bevy of media outlets. Those issued subpoenas include ones served to PayPal, Sportradar Solutions and Plaid, a payment processing app that holds a gaming licence. Although those companies are not under investigation, the subpoenas appear to be the first against service providers that conduct business with prediction markets in some form.

What is Chicken Road?

Çelik said: “If we can eliminate this sector, we will also minimise the funds flowing into the hands of the next criminal organisation.”  

The president of the Turkish Green Crescent Society, Associate Professor Mehmet Dinç, expanded on this point, highlighting the relationship between supply and demand in the fight against illegal betting. 

“In the fight against gambling, combating supply alone is not enough,” he said. “Combating demand alone is not enough; merely shutting down websites is not enough. This is an ecosystem: it starts with advertisements and continues through social media, sporting activities, influencers, games, mobile applications, payment systems, loans, bets, losses, debt and continued betting.” 

About Chicken Road

Peru’s regulated market went live in February 2024 and has since attracted a host of international operators, establishing a competitive market that includes legacy domestic operators such as market leader Apuesta Total.

According to Jennyfer Escobar, Stake’s Peru country manager, Peru is one of the most competitive in Latin America. “In the early stages, competition was largely driven by marketing investment, including advertising, sponsorships etc,” Escobar tells iGB. “Today, product quality, platform performance and the overall user experience are becoming much stronger differentiators.

“Players are more informed, have higher expectations and will switch brands if those expectations aren’t met.”