Leeds beat West Ham in shoot-out to reach FA Cup semis for first time in 39 years

Matt Fitzpatrick said his hot form means he has never been more confident entering the Masters, but the world number six but will be keeping his expectations low when he tees off.

The 31-year-old Englishman, who won last year's season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, captured last month's PGA Tour Valspar Championship a week after finishing second at the Players Championship.

"It's definitely the most confident I've been," Fitzpatrick said. "I wouldn't say that means I'm going to go out there and play well. The key is obviously to have as low expectations as possible and as high a confidence as possible.

"This is definitely the best form I've been coming into this tournament. Just kind of trying to roll with it and enjoy that."

"Definitely a lot of momentum,"  said the 2022 US Open champion. "The weird thing is winning and then having two weeks off and then you come in again. I think winning the week before is a bit more on a roll. You've got the same swing feels and whatnot.

"In that two weeks off, there's a few things that just felt like were maybe a little bit different," he said. 

"It's just managing that and making sure I'm on the right track."

Fitzpatrick, who is making his 12th Masters start having made 10 consecutive cuts with a best finish of seventh in 2016.

"The experience is the biggest thing here. The more you can learn about the golf course, the better," Fitzpatrick said.

"There's so much to learn on every different hole, particularly where to put the pins and where to miss around the greens, as well as just looking at the history of the event and what holes you can be a little bit more aggressive on and which holes you need to play smart."

Fitzpatrick spoke to his psychologist ahead of the Masters, working on the balance between confidence and overconfidence.

"It just goes back to the expectation standpoint," he said.

"It's taking the confidence from that, that things have improved so much from where they were last year, but as well as having those expectations you can't have the high expectations.

"I'm playing really well, but golf is golf. It can change quickly or it can continue for how it is."

"Every year I feel like I'm a completely different player to the one before," said Fitzpatrick.

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Donald Trump is no stranger to provocative language. But his threat to wipe out Iranian civilization and other recent menacing comments have prompted critics to question the US president's mental health.

The oldest elected president in American history has ramped up his apocalyptic rhetoric as his frustration grows with Tehran's refusal to make a deal to end the Middle East war.

Even some former allies have called for the 79-year-old Republican's removal from office after a series of outlandish and sometimes expletive-riddled social media posts. 

The world is now guessing whether Trump will follow through when his Tuesday evening deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz expires -- or back down as the former businessman has often done before. 

"A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will," Trump posted on his Truth Social network 12 hours before the deadline falls.

As global alarm grew, the White House was forced to dismiss speculation that his statement -- and comments by Vice President JD Vance about "tools in our toolkit that we so far haven't decided to use" -- meant Trump was ready to use nuclear weapons.

In the past, the former New York property magnate has often trumpeted a negotiating style that relies on maximalist positions in order to extract more from a deal.

"He does seem a bit more unhinged than in the past," Peter Loge, director of George Washington University's School of Media, told AFP.

But he added that "this feels to me like a broader pattern of Trump bluster.

"My guess is as we approach one more deadline in a long series of deadlines, the president will declare victory, say I drove Iran to the bargaining table, I'll give them two more weeks.

"Then we'll see this movie again in a couple of weeks."

- 'Evil and madness' -

Even by Trump's own outspoken standards, the 45th and 47th US commander-in-chief has in recent days used distinctly unpresidential language.

"Open the Fuckin' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell," Trump said on Truth Social, on the morning of Easter Sunday.

Trump was barely more measured in a series of interactions with the media in the incongruous setting of an Easter Egg Roll at the White House on Monday.

Surrounded by hundreds of kids and alongside a giant Easter Bunny and First Lady Melania Trump, the president denied that targeting Iranian power plants and civil infrastructure would be a war crime.

His extreme language has prompted a slew of critics -- including some one-time allies -- to question Trump's sanity.

"We cannot kill an entire civilization. This is evil and madness," hard-right ex-congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who split with Trump last year, said on X.

Former loyalists including Greene have also joined Democrats calling for Trump's cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment, which provides for a transfer of power if a president is unable to govern, particularly in the event of illness.

Right-wing TV host Tucker Carlson called Trump's Easter Sunday comments the "first step toward nuclear war," ex-White House press secretary Anthony Scaramucci called him a "crazy person" and sought Trump's removal from office, and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones asked on his INFO WARS show: "How do we 25th Amendment his ass?"

Former Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz meanwhile said "the President has lost his mind."

But Trump himself brushed off questions about his mental health, when asked by an AFP journalist at a briefing at the White House on Monday.

"I haven't heard that," Trump said in response to a question about critics saying his mental state should be examined following his "crazy bastards" comment.

"But if that's the case, you're going to have to have more people like me."

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US Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday threw his support behind Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, ahead of this weekend's fiercely fought parliamentary vote, accusing Brussels of "foreign election interference".

Orban -- the EU leader with the closest ties to both US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin -- is facing an unprecedented challenge to his 16-year rule in Sunday's vote.

Vance is one of the US administration's fiercest critics of centrist and progressive European governments and one of the most fervent supporters of far-right parties in Europe.

The 41-year-old conservative in his visit to the Hungarian capital Budapest hailed Orban as a "model" for Europe.

"I did want to send a signal to everybody, particularly the bureaucrats in Brussels," he told reporters in a press conference alongside Orban, accusing Brussels of interfering "to hold down the people of Hungary".

Later, at a rally with Orban in an indoor sports arena, Vance told thousands of cheering listeners that he and Trump stood "shoulder to shoulder" with the Hungarian leader.

Before his speech, he had Trump on the phone on loudspeaker, who said "I love that Viktor".

- 'Inspiring' -

Eszter Molnar, a 39-year-old lawyer who attended the event with her one-year-old daughter, said Vance's visit was "inspiring" as "his values align with those of the Hungarian government".

"I'm glad that Hungarian–American relations have risen to such a good level," she told AFP.

Adorjan Somogyi, an 18-year-old student, said the visit was important "from a foreign policy perspective" but wouldn't sway many voters.

Vance's visit follows that of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in mid-February, who wished his Hungarian ally "success" in the April 12 election.

Orban said in the press conference earlier that he had discussed the "major issues facing Western civilisation" with Vance, such as "migration, gender ideology, family policy, and global security". 

He also slammed the "unusually crude and overt interference by foreign intelligence services in Hungary's electoral processes".

- Election challenge -

Orban, 62, has been in power for 16 years and is close to Moscow. 

According to analysts, Orban has benefited from covert Russian assistance to boost his chances of reelection.

However, polls by independent institutes predict a sweeping victory for the Tisza party led by pro-European conservative Peter Magyar. 

In two years, Magyar has built an opposition movement capable of challenging Orban.

Pro-government institutions are predicting victory for Orban's Fidesz-KDNP coalition.

Since returning to power, Trump and his government have broken with the traditional restraint past US administrations have shown regarding foreign elections.

Instead, they now strongly show support for leaders they sees as compatible with US diplomatic priorities.

European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said in a statement on Tuesday that elections were the "sole choice of the citizens," adding that "together, the commission and member states are building a stronger, more independent Europe."

Orban is particularly aligned with the Trump administration on anti-migrant policies, which came to the fore in Hungary during the refugee crisis 10 years ago. He has visited Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida several times.

Hungary continues to be heavily reliant on Russian energy, claiming it is vital to keep energy costs low.

burs-jza/st

Donald Trump's increasingly apocalyptic threats of destruction in Iran have raised concerns of just how far the US president might go militarily to bend the Islamic republic to his will.

Trump announced Tuesday that "a whole civilization will die" if Iran does not heed his ultimatum to accept US war demands, while Vice President JD Vance warned that Washington had additional "tools in our toolkit" that could be deployed against Tehran.

- New 'tools' -

The United States has already used a wide variety of military capabilities in the conflict to strike thousands of targets in Iran.

"The US has employed a significant number of its most advanced capabilities in the war -- air assets, cruise missiles, advanced stealth bombers, one-way attack drones," said Daniel Schneiderman, director of global policy programs at Penn Washington, the University of Pennsylvania's center in the nation's capital.

There may be "exquisite unique hypersonic capabilities or other bespoke systems that could be used against specific targets," he said.

But "unless we're talking about nuclear weapons, I don't think the administration has limited itself in terms of what it is employing."

US officials have also refused to rule out the deployment of ground troops -- a step that would mark a major escalation in the war.

Etienne Marcuz, associate researcher at French think-tank FRS, said that "among the things they can still do, there is the possibility of cyber" warfare.

Trump has said US forces employed a weapon he referred to as the "discombobulator" during the January raid to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro that helped disable the country's military equipment.

- Nuclear option 'unlikely' -

Trump's threat to wipe out Iranian civilization has sparked speculation that nuclear weapons could be employed in Iran. In addition to massive city-destroying strategic warheads, Washington also possesses smaller "tactical" weapons designed to be used on the battlefield.

The United States is the only country to have used nuclear weapons in combat -- against Japan late in World War II -- and Trump ordered a resumption of nuclear testing last year.

The White House pushed back Tuesday against suggestions that Washington could target Iran with nuclear weapons, saying that "literally nothing" Vance said implied it would do so.

Schneiderman said it is "highly unlikely that the US will choose to use nuclear weapons against Iran. It is the ultimate Rubicon to cross."

He noted that consequences of a nuclear strike include "the loss of life and human suffering that would be unleashed, the global economic turmoil and environmental impacts of nuclear fallout circulating in the atmosphere, and the rendering of Iran's oil and natural gas exports functionally unusable."

Marcuz agreed, saying the "political cost of such a deployment would be enormous," and that it could "pave the way for similar action by Russia in Ukraine."

-What will US do? -

Trump has already threatened that the United States could bomb Iran's bridges, power plants and other civilian infrastructure into the "stone age."

If Trump's ultimatum expires Tuesday without a deal, "there's a possibility the administration escalates their attacks on dual-use infrastructure like bridges and power and energy systems," Schneiderman said.

"The risk of lasting damage to Iran's infrastructure and the immiseration of the population above and beyond what they're already experiencing is significant," he said.

"The likelihood that these strikes achieve a strategic effect on the course of the war is minimal, and the likelihood they harm the civilian population is high."

wd/mlm

Defending champion Rory McIlroy will tee off alongside third-ranked Cameron Young and US Amateur winner Mason Howell on Thursday in first-round tee times for the 90th Masters announced on Tuesday.

McIlroy, the world number two from Northern Ireland who completed a career Grand Slam last year with his first Masters title, starts in Thursday's 15th group at 10:31 a.m. (1431 GMT).

Young won last month's Players Championship while fellow American Howell captured last year's US Amateur at The Olympic Club in San Francisco aged 18.

In other groupings, top-ranked Scottie Scheffler is in the 30th and penultimate group at 1:44 p.m. alongside fellow American Gary Woodland and Scotsman Robert MacIntyre.

Two-time Masters winner Scheffler, the reigning PGA Championship and British Open champion, won at LaQuinta earlier this year. 

Woodland took an emotional PGA Houston Open victory two weeks ago, his first triumph since the 2019 US Open. Earlier last month, Woodland revealed he still fights anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder following 2023 brain surgery.

MacIntyre, last year's US Open runner-up, was second in last week's Texas Open.

Following ceremonial starters Jack Nicklaus, Gary Players and Tom Watson, are the twosome of American John Keefer and China's Li Haotong.

Americans Bryson DeChambeau and Xander Schauffele and England's Matt Fitzpatrick start Thursday at 10:07 a.m. with Americans Collin Morikawa and Russell Henley joining Japan's Hideki Matsuyama 12 minutes later in the group just ahead of McIlroy's trio.

Other later groups include Spain's Jon Rahm, Sweden's Ludvig Aberg and American Chris Gotterup at 1:08 p.m. followed by England's Justin Rose and Americans Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth.

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Pablo Picasso’s anti-war masterpiece "Guernica" is swept up in a conflict in Spain, where Basque leaders want the government in Madrid to move the painting to their region, whose 1937 bombing inspired it.

The mural-sized painting has been on display since 1992 at the Reina Sofia museum in the Spanish capital, and repeated requests for it to be moved to Spain's Basque Country have been refused.

The latest demand was made by the head of the regional Basque government, Imanol Pradales, during talks with Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

The Basque government wants the painting to be hung in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the April 26, 1937 bombing, in which forces from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy razed the town of Guernica to help General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War.

Bringing the painting to Bilbao from October until June would be a form of "reparation and historical memory", the Basque government said.

Sanchez -- whose minority government depends on the support of two Basque parties in parliament to pass laws -- did not reject the proposal outright, instead referring it to the culture ministry.

The ministry asked the Reina Sofia museum for a technical report on the viability of the request, which once again "strongly advised" against moving the painting.

The report said the painting is too fragile to travel, citing risks of damage from vibration or movement.

Picasso's black-and-white masterpiece is the highlight of the Reina Sofia museum, which welcomed around 1.6 million visitors last year.

The outspoken head of the regional government of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayuso of the conservative Popular Party (PP), weighed in on Monday, calling the request to move the painting "provincial".

"It makes no sense for everything to be returned to its origin. In that case we should send all of Picasso’s works to Malaga," she said, a reference to the southern Spanish city where Picasso was born.

- Return from New York -

Asked about the controversy on Tuesday, Spain's central government spokeswoman Elma Saiz said the government relies on the advice of "professionals", referring to the museum report, and "never resorts to insults".

Painted in 1937 in the aftermath of the bombing, "Guernica" debuted in Paris at the World's Fair, then was placed in the care of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

When Franco's forces overthrew the Spanish republic, Picasso stipulated that the painting should not return to Spain until democracy had been restored.

The work was moved to Spain in 1981, six years after Franco's death.

It was first displayed at the Prado museum, then moved to the Reina Sofia in 1992.

Picasso, who died in 1973, never lived to see the painting on exhibit in Spain.

In 1995, Spanish authorities refused to lend it to the Pompidou Centre in Paris, citing the damage the work could suffer during its transport.

mig/ds/jhb

(The Center Square) – Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is challenging the Trump administration over orders requiring coal-fired power plants in Indiana to remain open past their planned retirement dates.

Ellison, joined by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, filed the petitions for judicial review against U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Ellison argued the U.S. Department of Energy “unlawfully” invoked emergency powers to keep the plants operating, a move he said will increase costs for ratepayers throughout the Midwest, including those in Minnesota.

The states are challenging federal orders affecting the R.M. Schahfer power plant in Wheatfield, Indiana, and the F.B. Culley generating station in Newburgh, Indiana. Both facilities had been slated for retirement.

“It makes no sense for the federal government to force old, out-of-date, expensive, and polluting coal plants to continue operating far past when they were supposed to shut down,” Ellison said. “Continuing to operate these plants will ultimately raise energy costs for ratepayers.”

The orders were issued in December under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, which allows federal intervention in the electric grid during emergencies. Additional extensions were filed by the federal government on March 23.

Ellison and Raoul argue no such emergency exists and say the administration exceeded its legal authority.

“Donald Trump doesn’t even have the legal authority to order these plans to continue operating,” Ellison said. “I’m suing to stop this unlawful action and prevent the Trump administration from raising Minnesotans’ energy costs and increasing pollution that leads to climate change.”

The Trump administration has defended similar actions as necessary to maintain grid reliability as electricity demand rises and more traditional power plants retire.

When President Donald Trump took office he issued executive orders declaring an unlawful “national energy emergency” and “terminating the Green New Deal.”

A July report from the U.S. Department of Energy last year warned the country could face a significantly increased risk of power outages by 2030 if coal and natural gas plants continue to shut down as planned.

The report, ordered by Trump as part of an April 2025 executive order, found closures could increase outage risks by as much as 100 times without intervention and urged keeping existing generation capacity online.

“Our nation possesses abundant energy resources and capabilities such as oil and gas, coal, and nuclear,” the report said.

It applauded deregulation and permitting reform by the Trump administration, but argued that won’t be enough if plants continue to close.

“However, even with these foundational strengths, the accelerated retirement of existing generation capacity . . . undermine this energy outlook,” it said. “Absent decisive intervention, the nation’s power grid will be unable to meet projected demand for manufacturing, re-industrialization, and data centers driving artificial intelligence (AI) innovation.”

That report faces a lawsuit for a multi-state coalition, as previously reported by The Center Square.

Wright said emergency orders are intended to ensure sufficient generation capacity throughout the Midwest.

“The last administration’s energy subtraction policies had the United States on track to likely experience significantly more blackouts in the coming years—thankfully, President Trump won’t let that happen,” Wright said of the March extension. “The Trump Administration will continue taking action to keep America’s coal plants running to ensure we don’t lose critical generation sources.”

A similar dispute is playing out in Michigan. Just hours before its planned closure last May, the J.H. Campbell coal-fired plant in West Olive was ordered to remain open under a federal emergency directive.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel challenged the move in July, calling it a “manufactured emergency” and arguing the federal government was overstepping its authority to keep open coal plants. She also warned the plant's extension would significantly raise costs for consumers, with some reports stating an additional $134 million for just six months of operation.

Wright has filed multiple extensions for that plant since last year and it still remains operational. Nessel has challenged each of those extensions to no avail.

Similar concerns are central to Minnesota’s lawsuit.

Ellison argued the Indiana plants require significant maintenance, repairs and fuel to continue operating, particularly after running down resources ahead of their planned retirements. Those costs would ultimately be passed on to customers across the Midcontinent Independent System Operator region.

“This comes at a significant loss that will be passed on to Minnesota rate payers,” Ellison’s office said. “There is no evidence the coal plants could reasonably address any emergency need, because they are inefficient, in disrepair, and operate on a long timetable.”

The Artemis II astronauts snapped a stunning shot of Earthset -- the moment when the Earth dips below the Moon's horizon -- on their long journey back home Tuesday after wrapping up a historic lunar flyby.

NASA released the photo of Earth dropping below the rugged lunar edge in a deliberate nod to the iconic Earthrise image taken by an Apollo 8 astronaut in 1968.

That shot 57 years ago helped capture the public's imagination when it was taken by US astronaut Bill Anders during the first space mission to carry humans around the Moon.

The modern version pairs the delicate, watery planet Earth with the harsh, huge curve of the Moon, separated by black space.

"First photo from the far side of the Moon," the White House said, reposting the image.

The crew of four -- US astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, and Victor Glover, teamed with Canadian Jeremy Hansen -- are on a historic mission to loop around Earth's natural satellite as part of a broader program paving the way for a Moon landing in 2028.

After completing their lunar flyby -- breaking the record for distance from Earth -- they were bound for home, with splashdown due in the Pacific off the coast of California late Friday.

- 'Hard to describe' -

The crew reported in vivid detail features of the lunar surface and later witnessed a solar eclipse, when the Moon passed in front of the Sun.

They also described flashes of light -- meteor strikes -- on the Moon's surface.

"Humans probably have not evolved to see what we're seeing," said Victor Glover. "It is truly hard to describe. It is amazing."

Late Monday, the crew got a congratulatory call from NASA administrator Jared Isaacman and US President Donald Trump, who at 79 is old enough to remember the Apollo program.

"You've really inspired the entire world," Trump said, calling them "modern-day pioneers" who have "a lot of courage."

He probed the astronauts about their favorite moments and asked what it was like to lose connection with Earth for some 40 minutes during an expected communications blackout. Trump experienced a signal glitch of his own while calling into space.

"Might have gotten cut off," Trump said as he waited a full minute for the signal to return. "It is a long distance."

- Historic trip -

The Artemis II team broke the distance record set by the 1970 Apollo 13 mission, which they surpassed by more than 4,000 miles (more than 6,000 kilometers) when they reached the journey's furthest distance from Earth 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers).

Astronaut Jeremy Hansen said the moment should "challenge this generation and the next, to make sure this record is not long-lived."

Glover was the first person of color to fly around the Moon, Koch was the first woman, and Canadian Hansen the first non-American.

The Orion capsule carrying the astronauts will now travel back to Earth in a so-called free-return trajectory before coming down in the ocean.

They'll be leaving something behind: names for two previously unnamed Moon craters.

The first they requested to name in honor of their spacecraft's nickname, "Integrity."

They offered a second name, "Carroll," for another crater, which they asked be named after the late wife of mission commander Wiseman, who died of cancer.

"It's a bright spot on the Moon," said Hansen, his voice breaking with emotion. "And we would like to call it Carroll."

NASA said it will formally submit the name proposals to the International Astronomical Union, the body charged with naming celestial bodies and surface features.

mdo-sms/dw

(The Center Square) – Americans lost more than $20 billion to cryptocurrency and other online scams in 2025, a 26% increase over the year before, according to the latest figures from the FBI.

Online fraud is rising fast. Scams that use cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence are getting smarter. This makes it hard for people, especially seniors, to tell what is real and what is a scam. The new FBI data shows these scams are becoming a bigger problem, and police are trying to fight back.

According to the FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report, nearly $11.4 billion of last year's $20 billion in online scam losses came from cryptocurrency scams. Of that, $7.2 billion resulted from cryptocurrency investment scams.

The report also says that seniors are the most likely to lose money to scams. People ages 60 and older lost about $7.7 billion, which is 37% more than in 2024.

In 2025, the FBI received 81,565 cryptocurrency-related complaints, a 21% increase from 2024. These reports accounted for $11.4 billion in losses, with an average individual loss of $62,604. Over 18,500 complaints involved losses exceeding $100,000.

"Cryptocurrency investment scams are sophisticated long-term scams using psychological manipulation, the appearance of legitimacy, and exploitation of cryptocurrencies to deceive victims into investing large sums of money," according to the report. "These scams are largely perpetrated by organized criminal enterprises based in Southeast Asia using victims of human trafficking as forced labor to run the scam operations."

In a high-stakes scheme, scammers aggressively lure victims, urging them to transfer cryptocurrency to fraudulent investment platforms or apps. They quickly show victims fabricated profits and dangle the promise of loans, pressing them to invest even more. The moment victims attempt to withdraw funds, they are slammed with bogus taxes and fees, amplifying the devastation.

Then, in a final bid to get more money, some offer recovery scams to these victims.

"Victims are also targeted in recovery scams, claiming to help recover lost funds," according to the report. "These scams are often devastating because they can leave victims with significant financial loss and emotional distress."

The FBI wants everyone to use the "Take a Beat" method to spot scam warning signs.

"Resist pressure to act quickly and assess the situation before turning over money or personal information," the agency warned.

People who are victims or may know victims of a fraud or scam should call their local FBI office or submit a complaint at ic3.gov as soon as possible.

Victims should document the name of the scammer, the company, the methods of contact, the dates of contact, the methods of payment, where funds have been sent, and a thorough description of the interactions.

(The Center Square) – Illinois may soon allow prediction markets to operate in the state, but lawmakers and the federal government are at odds with how they want it done. 

State legislators have introduced a bill proposing regulation and a tax on the services, hedging against any negative outcomes they think could stem from services operating in the state.

Operators say it would be overly burdensome and effectively prohibit them from operating.

Prediction markets allow users to effectively place bets on the outcomes of sports and real-world events by buying contracts. 

The ability for states to regulate prediction markets’ operations has been brought into question by a federal lawsuit against Illinois and several other states last week. 

The lawsuit against the Illinois and the Illinois Gaming Board was filed on the grounds that regulation should be exclusively overseen by the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission and states have illegally blocked these companies from operating.

State lawmakers say they should have extra oversight powers, regardless of the lawsuit.

Senate Bill 4168, the Prediction Markets Regulation and Taxation Act, would require prediction market services – such as Kalshi or Polymarket – to pay a $1 million license fee to the Illinois Gaming Board to obtain a master prediction market license, along with yearly renewal fees of $1 million. 

The bill would also impose a 50% tax to the market operator’s adjusted gross earnings from prediction contracts placed in the state and by residents.

A state senate committee heard from Sen. Michael Hastings, D-Frankfort, regarding his bill Monday. He says the bill intends to protect bettors while allowing them to access the increasingly popular services.

“By passing this bill, we ensure that every entity seeking to serve Illinois bettors plays by the same rules And that we protect our consumers through strong oversight,” Hastings said.

While no outside testimony was spoken at the hearing, legal representatives for Kalshi Inc. did file a written statement to the committee, which was not acknowledged by lawmakers during the hearing.

The Center Square obtained a copy of the seven-page testimony submitted to lawmakers through Neil F. Flynn & Associates, the company’s legal counsel in Springfield.

“Kalshi also goes beyond what is required under its federal regulatory obligations to protect consumers,” the Kalshi statement said. “Kalshi has voluntarily implemented deposit caps, self-imposed trading breaks, and self-exclusion tools that allow users to restrict their own access to trading.” 

The statement is also critical of the proposed 50% tax, saying it is overly burdensome and likely unconstitutional.

Lawmakers said they have concerns with how markets currently operate, including the threat of insider trading, low age requirements, and what specific events can be bet on.

“There was a wager that was made to bet on Armageddon. When the end of the world would occur,” Hastings said. “I had asked myself and a couple of my friends the question, what happens if you win the bet?”

Hastings also said that some real events being bet on, like who would streak at the Super Bowl or which world leader would be assassinated, promote poor and unlawful behavior.

The bill in its current form would only apply to non-sports event contracts, with sports related contracts being subject to previous state law on sports wagering, according to Hastings. He said in his research for the bill, he learned that well over half of all contracts are sports related.

Federal support for betting platforms came last year in the wake of backing from Wall Street and Silicon Valley investors and, notably, the President Donald Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr. – who is directly invested in Polymarket and serves as a strategic advisor to Kalshi.

Kalshi and Polymarket, the two biggest prediction market platforms, have also recently signed partnership deals with national news companies, including CNN and CNBC, to provide insight into public opinion on notable current events through prediction data.

The Illinois bill recognizes prediction markets can serve a legitimate purpose.

“Prediction markets, when limited to non-sports events, serve a legitimate informational and hedging function by aggregating dispersed knowledge about future uncertain outcomes, contributing to more accurate public forecasting and risk management,” according to the bill

The Illinois Attorney General’s office says they are reviewing the federal complaint.

Hastings said he wants to address issues brought about by the federal lawsuit and industry criticisms.

“I do intend on filing an additional piece of legislation to counter any arguments that the industry does choose to make to ensure that there's proper oversight in the state of Illinois,” Hastings said.