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mark212 7 hours ago

as the article notes, prediction markets are regulated by the CFTC as a commodities futures contract, so I'm not sure how any state law survives a federal pre-emption challenge. On the other hand, it's a little unusual to see a federal agency suing to protect its turf. Would've expected a class action by a Minnesota user of the service to bring the challenge instead.

ranger207 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I'm curious to see how this works out, because sports betting is _not_ in the CFTC's remit, and Kalshi etc's argument that states can't regulate them because they're not technically sports betting is contrary to the spirit of the law

cortesoft 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> because sports betting is _not_ in the CFTC's remit

Traditionally it has not been, but the current CFTC says that 'prediction bets on sports' ARE under their purview. This has not been fully challenged in court, though.

oatmeal1 4 hours ago | parent [-]

If Congress intended for the CFTC to regulate sports betting, it would have had that language in the act that originated the agency. It's telling that only recently the CFTC has discovered such authority. No previous leadership of the CFTC read the act to mean what the current leadership thinks it means.

jeltz 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

What if CFTC would start to claim they are allowed to regulate online casinos or online poker? I feel that would be about as non-sensical.

nojito 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

There’s no “house” or “book” aspect to Kalshi. They are nothing more than contracts that are bought and sold between individuals.

tshaddox 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Lots of types of contracts bought and sold between individuals are prohibited by law.

tantalor 4 hours ago | parent [-]

They problem is the federal government considers these particular contracts are generally legal, and the states have no authority.

jeltz 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Have you heard of Betfair? A UK company which has done "prediction markets" since 2000. In the Europe it is called a betting exchange and regulated like sports betting. And betting pools is another form of betting which is way older than that and there are no house in them either.

And by your argument poker or backgammon would not be gambling either.

nojito 3 hours ago | parent [-]

>And by your argument poker or backgammon would not be gambling either.

They aren't. A sportsbook explicitly sets lines and you are betting that the line they set is incorrect.

SoftTalker 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

How do they make money?

nojito 7 hours ago | parent [-]

Just like other exchanges.

They charge trading fees.

dymk 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

They also place their own bets within their own market. They don't just make money on trading fees.

usefulcat 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Sounds like a glaringly obvious conflict of interest?

msandford 23 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Be careful, the market makers always win. If you go against them, you make yourself a target.

CyberDildonics 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Of course it is, people will do whatever they can get away with.

nojito 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

A different entity provides liquidity.

There’s no house like in sportsbooks.

jeltz 4 hours ago | parent [-]

And there is no house in pool betting, poker or backgammon either. We still count all of them including betting exchanges (what has now been rebranded as prediction markets) are still normally regulated as gambling.

nojito 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Not in the US.

loeg 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Kalshi does not trade against its users.

dymk 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

That's their PR department talking.

https://straighttothepoint.substack.com/p/you-cant-have-it-b...

https://www.sportico.com/business/sports-betting/2025/kalshi...

tantalor 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Kalshi definitely does this

They just don't make any money off it.

hilariously 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

What about the special partners that put up bets that are basically just methods to launder the fact that there's a house?

kevin_thibedeau 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> it's a little unusual to see a federal agency suing to protect its turf.

This is Don Jr's consulting fee at work.

unethical_ban 5 hours ago | parent [-]

This should not be downvoted and is a legitimate criticism. Trump Jr. has a "special advisory role" in both Kalshi and polymarket. It would track with this administration to deploy a rapid defense of a corruption generation market where the current president's son is getting paid off by the two main competitors in the market.

thallium205 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Nevada was able to get it banned. The casino pull is huge.

jimt1234 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/21/politics/trump-prediction-mar...