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DraftKings lowered its 2026 financial guidance, citing competition from prediction-market platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi. The Boston-based sports-betting company is simultaneously increasing its own investment in prediction-style offerings to compete in that space. Shares fell sharply following the announcement.
In its newly filed fiscal 2026 Form 10-K, Apple updated its insider trading policy to add a specific rule barring employees from using confidential Apple information in prediction markets or event-contract platforms. The policy also bars tipping off others who might use such information to trade on these platforms, and states the prohibition applies regardless of whether the activity legally counts as insider trading.
Luana Lopes Lara, co-founder of prediction market exchange Kalshi and now the world's youngest self-made female billionaire with a $2.6 billion net worth per Forbes, said on a podcast that many capable founders undermine themselves by becoming fixated on calculating probabilities before acting. She argued that excessive focus on odds can paralyze decision-making, and that believing things will work out and taking the risk is essential to starting a business.
Former CFTC chairman James Christopher Giancarlo, now an adviser to companies including Polymarket, told Bloomberg TV that prediction markets benefit society because they satisfy a basic human desire for certainty. Pressed by anchor Tim Stenovec on concerns about the 'gamification' of betting on everything from weather to elections, Giancarlo said such markets aggregate the 'wisdom of the crowd' more effectively than traditional polling.
Polymarket paused trading on its international platform for nearly an hour Thursday after discovering that software from third-party vendor DebugBear had been compromised. The company said affected users would be fully reimbursed and referred the incident to UK law enforcement, while The Block reported roughly $2.65 million in crypto was drained from user wallets, citing Arkham data. Polymarket's US platform was reportedly unaffected, and trading resumed around 3 p.m. ET.
Polymarket paused trading on its international platform after a UK-based third-party vendor was hacked, draining funds from user wallets. Blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps estimated roughly 700 users lost about $2.7 million combined. Polymarket said it has notified UK law enforcement and will refund affected traders, but did not confirm the exact scale of losses; its separate, US-regulated Polymarket US platform was unaffected.
Utah's Attorney General Derek Brown filed 14 criminal charges against Kalshi co-founders Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara, alleging the company promoted illegal gambling disguised as prediction markets. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission responded by suing Utah, asserting it holds exclusive federal jurisdiction over CFTC-registered prediction markets like Kalshi.
Polymarket paused trading on its international platform after a breach of a UK-based third-party vendor led to funds being drained from some users' wallets. Blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps estimated about 700 users were affected and roughly $2.7 million stolen; Polymarket has notified UK law enforcement and pledged to refund affected traders. The company's US-regulated platform, Polymarket US, was not affected, and trading has since resumed.
Utah has brought 14 criminal charges against prediction market Kalshi and two executives, CEO Tarek Mansour and COO Luana Lopes Lara, including 12 counts tied to illegally promoting online gambling, according to the Salt Lake Tribune and Associated Press. Kalshi called the action a "crazy overreach" and said it plans to fight the charges in court, citing a prior legal win in Arizona.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has sued Utah to block the state from enforcing its gambling ban against Kalshi, marking the tenth state the agency has sued on the platform's behalf. The move follows Utah's own lawsuit seeking to bar Kalshi from offering bets on sports, elections and politics, after Utah previously won a related federal case against Kalshi.
Robinhood reported third-quarter revenue of $1.42 billion, up 12% year-over-year but below some analyst expectations, with net income falling to $468 million from $556 million a year earlier. Transaction-based revenue rose 19% to $867 million, fueled by a surge in options and event-contract trading, but a 55% drop in cryptocurrency revenue weighed on results. Shares fell about 5% in after-hours trading following the report.
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.