Thanks to Kalshi, a so-called prediction market, sports betting is now legal everywhere—even where it isn’t.
mericans who want to bet on sports have many options. There’s DraftKings, FanDuel, ESPN Bet, Caesars, and BetMGM. There’s also BetRivers, Hard Rock, bet365, Fanatics, and Bally Bet. But none of those platforms are available in the 17 states where online sports betting remains illegal, including California and Texas.
Kalshi, a prediction market, doesn’t have that limitation. Gamblers can use it to wager on the outcome of sporting events in all 50 states. That’s because, in the eyes of American law, Kalshi is not a gambling company at all; it’s an exchange that facilitates the trading of legitimate financial products. Over the past year, the company has added sports to the range of events that can be wagered on, while arguing that it is beyond the reach of any state-level gambling ban. It maintains that it can be regulated only by the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission. But under the second Trump administration, the CFTC has shown no interest in cracking down. The result is that sports betting is now legal everywhere—even in the states where it isn’t.
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https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/10/sports-betting-kalshi-cftc/684689/
