The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) believes U.S. District Court judge’s ruling that claimed that CFTC exceeded its authority and prevented the prediction market Kalshi from providing U.S. election predictions was ‘wrong’.
CFTC filed an appellant’s brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Wednesday, where it contended that the judgment should be “overturned and the CFTC’s order restored.”
The filing sought several definitions to argue that CFTC did not use an “expansive definition of gaming” in its rejection of Kalshi’s application to launch election markets. The filing added, “Kalshi has taken the decision as carte blanche to list dozens of election betting contracts, including bets on the outcome of the presidential election, the winner of the popular vote, margins of victory, which state will have the narrowest margin of victory, and bets on numerous other state and federal elections.”
CFTC’s fresh argument comes after the regulated prediction market platform Kalshi won the lawsuit between itself and the CFTC. The lawsuit was about whether the Kalshi platform could open predictions for the U.S. election. Kalshi only operates in the United States and settles transactions in ordinary US dollars. However, every prediction contract it lists is approved or reviewed by the CFTC.
Additionally, after its landmark win against regulators, Kalshi has certified more than a dozen event contracts tied to United States political outcomes.
In fact, on October 16, Kalshi’s flagship market, “Who will win the Presidential election?” had bootstrapped $14 million in total betting volume since listing on October 7.
