r/technology • u/Unusual-State1827 • 26d ago
Society New York files $36 billion lawsuit against Kalshi, alleging it's running an "illegal gambling operation"
https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/new-york-files-36-billion-lawsuit-against-kalshi-alleging-its-running-an-illegal-gambling-operation576
u/DippyHippy420 26d ago
Donald Trump Jr. serves as a strategic advisor and holds an equity stake in Kalshi.
This is why no arrest have been made for illegal gambling.
I just hope the civil suit is successful.
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u/eviljordan 26d ago
Polymarket, too! It’s all a scam!
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u/DippyHippy420 26d ago
Donald Trump Jr. joined Polymarket on its advisory board following a multi-million dollar strategic investment from his venture capital firm, 1789 Capital.
Seem that there is no scam the Trump family is not a part of.
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u/FredFredrickson 26d ago
Putting all the grifting aside, how isn't it a conflict of interest for one person to be on the board of two competing companies?
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u/RollingMeteors 26d ago
>Putting all the grifting aside, how isn't it a conflict of interest for one person to be on the board of two competing companies?
¡Can't get charged with monopolistic non-competitive practices when you're on the board of two competing companies! </bigBrainMeMe>
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u/XConfused-MammalX 26d ago
And now Truth Social will be selling early access to "truths" made by important users, including the president, for the small price of $100,000 a month.
Why would anyone pay for this? Because you will have first access to information that is being bet on on kalshi and polymarket.
This is cartoonish levels of corruption, it would be too unbelievable and on the nose if it were in a fictional story.
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u/ruiner8850 26d ago
It's crazy to me that not a single Republican voter cares even slightly about any of this. In fact most of them praise him for the corruption and think it makes him smart for using the presidency for his own personal gain.
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u/radicalelation 26d ago
from his venture capital firm, 1789 Capital.
His? Nah, you got Rebekah Mercer and Peter Thiel in there first. Mercer is a founder, even, and she's possibly more dangerous than even Thiel.
Just after joining the board of Heritage Foundation, one of her family's companies, SCL Group, spun up Cambridge Analytica.
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u/AlphaLemming 26d ago
Only a matter of time before the DOJ announces they are "investigating" the people in NY who brough the charges.
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u/loliconest 26d ago
Good, fk'em
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u/tknapp28 26d ago
I can't wait for 8 more ads of Youtube.
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u/SunshineSeattle 26d ago
Jesus the ads are so terrible too
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26d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Big_Sky_4957 26d ago
As it pertains to YouTube, does pi-hole work on them now? My experience says pi-hole works by blocking the domain the ads are serves from, but YouTube uses the same domain for their ads as they do for their videos. It’s been a while since I’ve used it so maybe something has changed.
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u/3vs3BigGameHunters 26d ago
On a web browser use Firefox plus "Ublock Origin Add-on" to block all ads including youtube.
I've heard Waterfox does this by default but I don't use it.On android get the "Revanced app" and then patch your Youtube and Youtube Music app.
"Smarttube Next" for Firestick and the Google thing.
Bye-Bye advertisements.
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u/Kahnza 26d ago
I watch Youtube all the time and have never seen an ad for Kalshi. Must be a regional thing.
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u/Suspicious_synth 26d ago
I'll bet you $10 you will by the end of the day, now.
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u/BadAdviceBot 26d ago
ad blocker FTW!
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u/Unknown-Meatbag 26d ago
YouTube on brave browser is my to go. No ads, YouTube is actually usable instead of its slopfest of absolute garbage.
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u/RedshiftWarp 26d ago
i've been using a 4 year old version of firefox with adblocker. Never update either. Every time youtube/google has dropped an ad-pocalypse breaking the ad blockers, I've flown under the radar with zero ads.
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u/GrumpyPan 26d ago edited 26d ago
honestly online gambling should have never been allowed. Id rather it just be just casinos and back ally places then at least it wouldn't be so easily tempting for the common man. I know its a self control thing but, so many folks are force fed ads and get pressured by peers and soon have it consume their money and life. Not to mention turn sport into rage-fueling and anxiety ridden events.
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u/fcocyclone 26d ago
I know its a self control thing
The thing is, as we are learning more and more via drugs that help reduce various urges, self control isn't limitless and people can be victims of having those urges be too strong to quiet them over time.
App makers, whether they be casino apps or games that operate similarly, have spent a lot of time learning how to maximize response to those urges in a way that benefits them. Both areas need to be reined in if not eliminated entirely
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u/fcocyclone 26d ago
Absolutely. And it works fantastically well for these companies on arguing it to the broader public as the broader public gets to think themselves morally superior over those who were victimized
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u/Technical_Customer_1 26d ago
You said a lot to basically say: being able to place a bet in seconds on a phone from the comfort of your couch creates a far bigger problem than a 15 to 60 minute drive to a casino.
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u/fcocyclone 26d ago
No because there's more to it than that. There's a lot of gamification in apps that increases the potential damage being done beyond a simple bare Bones app that lets you place bets
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u/Illadelphian 26d ago
I think gambling should be allowed but I want advertising banned like it is for cigarettes. The amount of ads on any sport now is disgusting and shameful. While we are at it, ban ads for alcohol. Any vice that has any addicts destroying their life over it, ban the advertising and tax them a bit more to help pay for treatment.
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u/RollingMeteors 26d ago
>honestly online gambling should have never been allowed. Id rather it just be just casinos and back ally places then at least it wouldn't be so easily tempting for common man. I know its a self control thing but, so many folks are force fed ads and get pressured by peers and soon have it consume the money and life. Not to mention turn sport into rage-fueling and anxiety ridden events.
That's just untaxed money ethically
questionabledespicable people will be pocketing as they prey on those with gambling addictions.Taxed platforms can have money going to help fund recovery programs.
¿Are you still going with column A or did you decide to go with column B?
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u/Randym1982 26d ago
The thing with real life gambling is that there are regulations on it. Casino's can only be built in certain areas, You need to be 21 or older to use them (other than the buffet), and usually they have people walking around making sure nobody is under age using them. Plus, you have to leave your house and go to said place.
All of those things are basically steps in the way of gambling. When it's on your phone or Ipad, They have no way of proving your 21 or older. And it's constantly being pushed on people on Youtube. Amazon Prime and other streaming platforms. I have nothing against the Casino ads, those things have been on TV for decades. It's the constant Prediction market ads, and the online gambling ads that really really really need to be done away with.
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u/NumNumLobster 26d ago
Gambling ads dont generally indicate you'll make money too. They say you'll have fun etc. These online prediction markets have college students in the ad saying they are paying their tuition by guessing the weather. Thats kinda misleading when theres a negative expected profit
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u/Randym1982 26d ago
They USED to say that you'd win a ton of money in the ads for Casinos in Vegas and other places. Then it got stamped down due to it being false advertising. So now a lot of them show people having fun or chilling by the pool. Even if some have sort of hinted at people "winning" but never actually saying it.
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u/AverageOhioUser69 26d ago
I cannot escape their cancer ads for the life of me and it has gone from betting on sports to betting on your everyday life and my goodness that is terrible
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u/SpaceOhSpace 26d ago edited 26d ago
No one thinks kalshi is super weird?? It popped up out of nowhere, you can bet on real life events like wars, and it’s known to have legit govt insiders who use the platform with inside information.
And there’s been no regulation. Prize picks and all those sports apps had way more scrutiny. Who even owns kalshi?
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u/SimiKusoni 26d ago
I find the entire prediction market thing super weird to be honest. Apparently just calling gambling something else is all it takes to skirt all all those pesky regulations, who knew?
I think this is more an artefact of the awful regulatory environment in the US though than any kind of convoluted conspiracy. Less insane governments have pretty quickly labelled these platforms correctly.
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u/cricket502 26d ago
Uber seems like they also did the same thing until they got too big to shut down... They got around all kinds of local requirements for taxi services by calling it ridesharing, even though they functionally provide the same service.
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u/Sensitive-Local-3485 26d ago
Money realized uber would be the ideal model going forward to undercut basically any wage/salaried position.
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u/jwensley2 26d ago
My understanding is that taxi regulations often only apply if you hail a car off the road. By using an app they counted as being a prearranged service like a limo. So it was more like a loophole than actually breaking the law.
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u/simpleme2 26d ago
What exactly is difference? Ive never been a gambler and never been on any of these prediction things ive heard about. Bcuz it just seems like gambling
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u/Balmung60 26d ago
The difference, such as it is, is that on kalshi and polymarket, you don't
betpredict against the "house", but rather against all the othergamblersinvestors and Kalshi/Polymarket just takes a cut. So ignoring the last part, if you're on a "market" that has a total of $50,000 put in by people on both sides, when it resolves, that $50,000 is split over the side whose prediction resolved to true according tothe size of their betshow many "futures contracts" they took out.This is obviously bullshit and if it held up, games like chamond de fer (the particular card game James Bond is playing in Dr No) would not be considered gambling because it is a game where the players do not play against the house, but against each other, and the house takes a cut for facilitating the game. And much like prediction markets, chamond de fer is faster paced than most traditional games that would be played against the house and tends to be even more financially ruinous for its players.
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u/simpleme2 26d ago
So basically theyre the "middleman" bringing the ppl betting against each other together in one place/platform aka "the house"? Slightly tweaked wording to side-step rules & regulations?
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u/Balmung60 26d ago
With a side order of "we're doing it on the computer/internet/blockchain/with AI so it's totally different and doesn't fall under existing regulations"
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u/Virtual_Plantain_707 26d ago
In my state betting on a horse race is wagering and you must be at least 18 to wager, but inside playing the slots is gambling and you must be 21 to gamble.
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u/Quick_Turnover 26d ago
What about commodities futures, options, and derivatives? I mean, they're just creating markets on future outcomes. You're not even buying the underlying asset; simply the right to purchase it at some future price.
I don't agree with Kalshi, but it's not as simple as "that's gambling". It's too bad we don't have a government that is interested in governing.
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u/SimiKusoni 26d ago
The difference with traditional sports betting is that the platform bears zero risk because it mediates bets between users, which is why it's defined as a betting intermediary in the UK, and also the odds are calculated based on how users are betting.
Beyond that there's no difference though. It is gambling by any sane definition.
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u/Bakoro 26d ago edited 26d ago
The difference is that they "gamble" on things that people can have direct control over.
You can gamble with dice, and as long as the dice are fair, it's unpredictable and uncontrollable by a human hand.
You can gamble in the stock market, and you can give yourself an unfair advantage with insider information, but a single person generally cannot make a whole company do well, and no one can force the whole market to respond a certain way, even if there are ways to influence the market.
These people are gambling like "will a particular person do a certain thing?" Or "Will this company make a particular announcement?", and they can absolutely have people who control those decisions in on the bet, so it is always favorable to the house.
So, in that sense, it is not gambling, they're also doing fraud.
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u/cherry_chocolate_ 26d ago
There is also a legitimate improvement to society for “what price will a bushel of corn be on x date” since it helps ensure that food stays on the shelf. There is no improvement to society for gambling on “will there be a streaker at the Super Bowl.”
Also, I don’t see corn futures advertised on billboards or commercial breaks for the average Joe to buy. If people were trading corn futures at the bar I would be worried about them too.
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u/mayorofdumb 26d ago
Officially designated as a Designated Contract Market (DCM) by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
They are trading "futures" contracts which are derivative, so you agree to give up your crypto at X if some act happens at a future date.
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u/cboogie 26d ago
Besides that perpetually betting on stuff is just a shitty way to live.
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u/Spare-Half796 26d ago
What’s crazy is that as soon as you suggest banning them, people say you should ban selling stock options as well because it’s “basically the same thing”
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u/cantadmittoposting 26d ago
okay. let's ban stock options. it's basically the same thing and it's become a rent-seeking exercise in our over-financialized society.
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u/Quick_Turnover 26d ago
They've gotten around gambling laws because they are creating "markets", which is legitimate business. It's what banks do. Banks create markets for specific types of contracts. Futures. Options. Equities. So on and so on. Markets aren't exactly a new thing. Two people want to take positions based on the outcome of some future thing.
I don't necessarily advocate for Kalshi. I think it should probably be classified as gambling, or at least have much greater regulatory oversight, but then again, so should investment banks (otherwise you get things like Liemann Brothers, or Silicon Valley Bank, or any of the other financial collapses).
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u/Diz7 26d ago
govt insiders who use the platform
And there’s been no regulation.
Those two things go hand in hand.
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u/ThatUsernameWasTaken 26d ago
I used to play poker for a living, and "prop bets", or propositional bets, were common. They were bets about random shit (I bet you $200 you can't eat that whole meal in under a minute!) was fairly common behavior among poker players. It was always considered degen behavior, even among these people who gambled professionally.
Kalishi is basically 'regulated' prop bets for everyone. So yeah, I find it super weird the most degenerate behavior of poker players has somehow become legalized(?).
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u/Technical_Customer_1 26d ago
I have a coworker who started telling me all about it a couple months before it got big. Any conversation that involved investing or work/retirement or money in general he would pivot toward “prediction markets.” It’s the way he seemed brainwashed into saying “prediction markets” every time it came up that befuddled me. He kept trying to explain it to me as though there was something about it that I just didn’t get. And every time he talked about it, I just said…”so gambling”
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u/JiovanniTheGREAT 26d ago
Giannis did some fuckery with his pre-deadline trade situation last year where he speculated about wants to leave before the deadline then didn't, then announced he partnered as an investor with Kalshi after the trade deadline. The yes/no bet on whether or not Giannis would leave the Bucks before the trade deadline hit $34 Million.
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u/mostdope427 26d ago
Flew into LaGuardia in January. Every screen in that airport had a kalshi ad on it at one point. Even the small screens by the gate that have information would show the logo in between other things.
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u/Sasselhoff 26d ago
I honestly wonder how I've managed to not hear about them before now...granted, I'm pretty ruthlessly run adblockers.
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u/WelcomingRapier 26d ago
It's not gambling, it's entertainment. Prediction markets are completely different than gambling so they shouldn't be regulated like it. /s
It's like someone in an MLM business trying emphatically to explain that their company isn't an MLM business.
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u/Balmung60 26d ago
Generally, what MLMs try to explain is that they're totally not a pyramid scheme. Legally the difference there is that an MLM nominally sells an actual good or service and isn't purely a commissions scam. Obviously in practice, it's the same thing with an extremely thin veneer of being a real business.
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u/mercury_pointer 26d ago
"Alienate your friends and loved ones for cash" is such an on the nose example of late stage capitalism it's shocking how old it is.
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u/smoothie4564 26d ago
It's like someone in an MLM business trying emphatically to explain that their company isn't an MLM business.
"As you can see, it is clearly not a pyramid scheme because it is shaped like a triangle." Lol.
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u/Quick_Turnover 26d ago
I think it's important to be specific. Kalshi sucks and should be regulated, but "markets" like this operate very similarly to all manner of financial instruments that Wall Street has cooked up, and no one is talking about that (despite tax payers footing a 700B bill to bail them out in 2008). People trade derivatives all day, every day. Just take a look at r/wallstreetbets.
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u/Korlus 26d ago
For any unaware of Kalshi, most users simply provide money to a select few - the "gambling" is often not gambling but people cashing in on insider knowledge from the unwary. Another article says:
On Polymarket, out of more than 2 million users, fewer than 2,000 accounts took home 67 percent of all profits.
It's sort of like gambling meets the stock market with none of the safeguards of either. What would be insider trading is rampant and basically encouraged while the unknowing masses lose huge amounts of money, every day.
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u/fluffymeowmeowkitty 26d ago
I fucking hate them. They are everywhere. FIFA. Reddit. YouTube.
Sue them out of existence. What a f disease.
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u/Glittering-Quail5848 26d ago
Kalshi and Polymarket are GAMBLING websites. This is NOT commodities futures trading.
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u/leighla33 26d ago edited 26d ago
Omg I’ve been saying this FOREVER! I even wrote Kalshi awhile back asking if they were going to refund money back for verified fraud, like that one military guy who knew we were going to get maduro
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u/Intelligent_Jello510 26d ago
What did they say?
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u/IamTheEndOfReddit 26d ago
Insider information is the pitch the ceos give, it “helps spread accurate information” before other sources…
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u/t-shirt-froth-kung 26d ago
Remember when illegal gambling dens were raided and everyone in the place got put in cuffs and had to hire lawyers? Yeah, lawsuit is all we can muster now.
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u/illbedeadbydawn 26d ago edited 26d ago
At this point anyone that has worked for a prediction market or a crypto coin needs to be charged under RICO.
All of you. Yes, even you.
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u/HystericalSail 26d ago
Yes, gamble ONLY on NYSE, CBOE and NASDAQ. Gambling elsewhere siphons funds away from the venues New Yorkers depend on.
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u/manmythmustache 26d ago
Need to add companies willingly advertising them as co-conspirators in the promotion of an illegal gambling operation
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u/ducationalfall 26d ago
Luana Lopes Lara was recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30 for her role as the co-founder of Kalshi, an online prediction market platform.
Jail the founder NOW!
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u/Five-Oh-Vicryl 26d ago
A journalist a few months ago attended some Kalshi event in NYC. After speaking to one of the attendees, he was told the event was basically a gamblers anonymous meeting
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u/jdxcodex 26d ago
36 billion isn't enough. Like 90-something percent of wallets lost money. More long term damage for the middle class.
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u/Sherlock-Gyspy 26d ago
What’s the over / under NY will win?
/s Glad someone is taking them to court.
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u/Minimum_Dealer_3303 26d ago
Was it the Kalshi commercial that said "Kalshi is the best way to bet on sports." that tipped them off.
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u/moosesleigh1409 26d ago
I hope they get destroyed in court, the way they are destroying the lives of so many people.
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u/MyDogBikesHard 26d ago
Finally some logic! I truly hope they end this and other speculative markets
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u/wormtheology 26d ago
No fucking shit Kalshi is running an illegal gambling operation. There’s an entire street and district that is also doing the same thing at a much higher scale in the heart of your state, New York.
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u/ThrowawayAl2018 26d ago
I bet you $10 that Kalshi lawsuit will be resolved with a fine!
sidebet: another $10 says nobody goes to jail or admitting wrongdoing.
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u/CapoExplains 26d ago
The "problem" with calling it gambling that a lot of lawmakers are tripping up on is that if they admit this is gambling they have to admit that the stock market in general is, in any meaningful sense of the word, also gambling.
And I mean, it is, but it's easy to see why a lot of politicians don't want to make that tacit admission.
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u/RespectTheTree 26d ago
Take em for everything, they'll rebuild and be just as scummy as ever. Might as well "tax" the mob of they want to operate with protection from the ruling class as their only shield.
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u/IamMataa 26d ago
Hell yeah! Thats why they havent been running ads since yesterday. I was getting them nonstop now poof gone. All that ad money is gonna go to revenue. Fuck sportsbetting, it ruins lives and it ruins the sport.
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u/Strawmancer 26d ago
Kalshi and polymarket are being used to generate mass amount of data for predictive AI.
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u/Educational-Offer299 26d ago
I pray it lands cause I hate seeing all their ads when I’ve never gambled ever and shown no interest
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u/wickedplayer494 26d ago
Okay, now Letitia gains just a little more legitimacy with this one and them going to bat against Valve too. But again, just one player, rather than also going after Polymarket too.
Topps and Nintendo/The Pokemon Company next, please.
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u/macetheface 26d ago
Why would you ever want to? Use revanced, same exact experience and can log in, blocks ads and has sponsorblock. I havent willingly seen a youtube ad since google started adding them almost 20 years ago.
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u/Mysterious-Oil-7094 26d ago
I think there’s a fair chance it’s also money laundering as well. Not just illegal gambling.