Kalshi increases lobbying spending as states challenge prediction markets

Kalshi spent $1.8 million on lobbying in the first half of 2026, as the prediction market operator and rival Polymarket contest US states’ efforts to regulate sports-event contracts as gambling, GamblingNews.com reported.

The figure, cited in a Demand Progress report on the industry’s political activity, was nearly three times the $615,000 Kalshi reported spending on lobbying during all of 2025. The advocacy group also identified former government officials and political advisers hired by the companies.

Kalshi’s hires include Stephanie Cutter, a former Obama administration official, and John Bivona, a former Biden administration official. They also include Tony Hanagan, a former senior Republican floor staffer, and Jed Bhuta, who worked for Democratic members of Congress.

Demand Progress said Polymarket hired David Urban, a former adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. The report also examined the Coalition for Prediction Markets, which named former Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney as president and former Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry as senior adviser.

Ella Fanger, a Demand Progress policy adviser, argued that state and tribal gambling laws protect consumers. She warned that without state controls, consumers could be exposed to unregulated sports betting and insider trading.

The legal question remains unsettled. In September, the Sixth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Ohio and Tennessee could treat sports-event contracts as gambling. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reached a similar conclusion in Nevada, while another ruling prevented New Jersey from regulating prediction markets.

Several states have asked the US Supreme Court to resolve the dispute. A ruling permitting state laws to apply could require operators to obtain licenses and comply with local customer-protection rules, or potentially stop operating in some jurisdictions.