GoKawiil
Tech News
Bellevue resident Scott Bright has filed suit against prediction market Kalshi seeking to recover $308,000 he lost placing hundreds of sports bets on the platform, plus additional damages totaling $580,000. Kalshi moved on October 30 to dismiss the Washington lawsuit, arguing its sports wagers are federally regulated 'event contracts' rather than gambling, which the state has banned online since 2006.
The NBA has struck multi-year commercial agreements naming Kalshi and Polymarket as its 'Preferred Prediction Market Exchanges,' following similar moves by MLB and NHL. The deals set up a data-sharing framework meant to flag suspicious betting patterns and include a Memorandum of Understanding with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, since prediction markets fall under federal rather than state oversight.
A unanimous three-judge panel on the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that Kalshi's sports-event contracts do not qualify as federally regulated swaps, meaning Ohio and Tennessee can enforce their own gambling laws against the platform. The decision upheld a lower court ruling against Kalshi in Ohio and reversed a prior Tennessee ruling that had favored the company. The court also said that even if the contracts were swaps, federal law would not block states from applying their gambling statutes.
New Jersey's attorney general has asked the Supreme Court to resolve whether states can regulate sports wagers offered through prediction markets like Kalshi. The move follows a split between federal appeals courts: the 3rd Circuit ruled such bets are federally regulated swaps outside state control, while the 9th Circuit found they are simply gambling by another name and can be blocked by states like Nevada.
The Clarity Act, a bill meant to set clear market-structure rules for digital assets by dividing oversight between the SEC and CFTC, failed to get a vote before the Senate's August recess. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has now scheduled a procedural vote for September 15, but unresolved disputes over stablecoin rewards and ethics provisions tied to President Trump's crypto holdings could still stall progress. Industry figures, including SALT CEO John Darsie, say they doubt the bill can pass before the 2026 midterms complicate the legislative calendar.
Prediction market Kalshi has permanently banned former Rep. George Santos and fined him $71,356, citing his lack of cooperation during an internal insider-trading probe. Santos had profited over $17,500 by betting he'd skip the State of the Union, then selling those contracts after publicly claiming he'd attend. He previously settled separate CFTC charges over the same scheme, paying more than $35,000 and receiving a three-year trading ban from the agency.
Prediction market Kalshi has permanently banned former congressman George Santos and fined him $71,356, marking the platform's first-ever lifetime ban. Santos had allegedly profited over $17,500 by betting he'd skip the State of the Union due to travel issues, then selling those contracts after claiming publicly he would attend. Kalshi says it flagged the scheme to regulators and imposed the harsher penalty because Santos failed to cooperate fully with its internal investigation.