Comment Text:
Kalshi's political prediction marketplace is nothing new as CFTC commissioners know after the recent actions taken against PredictIt Kalshi is a new actor in the prediction market space that offers materially the same product as PredictIt.
Kalshi argues that their product will be used by investors to hedge their other risks. The idea that we use political gambling to hedge our other risks is laughable. We use websites like predictit because we're degenerate gamblers. We gamble on political outcomes because often there are opportunities to make money.
If you look at the social media posts of Kalshi and its employees, and other political gambling podcasts as well you can clearly see people are being coached to claim they are using this to hedge their other investments. That is not why most traders bet on political events.
Kalshi and Predictit are essentially the same product. Kalshi may deserve some credit for bringing federal regulation to the marketplace, but unless they can prove they are fundamentally different from PredictIt then they should be treated the same as PredictIt.
If the CFTC is going to allow political gambling on Kalshi it should set a level playing field and not give one company a monopoly in the marketplace. I urge CFTC commissioners to clearly assess the situation and allow for a thriving, competitive and fair space for political outcome gambling, rather than giving a monopoly to one company only.
