At the time this article was published, there were about 10 hours left to go before the expected launch of betting on the presidential election. There was a countdown clock and everything – on Kalshi.com.
“The CFTC [Commodities Futures Trading Commission] asked us to delay till tomorrow morning, so we’ll have to wait a bit longer for the presidential market. Now coming at 8:15 a.m. EST tomorrow,” said Kalshi founder Tarek Mansour in a Thursday evening X post. He also discussed the upcoming launch with “Squawk Box” on CNBC.
Through the Kalshi site, people will be able to place bets on Democrat nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, GOP nominee former President Donald Trump, and four independent candidates – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Jill Stein, Chase Oliver or Cornell West. For each candidate there is a subhead that reads “or another nominee” from there respective parties.
According to CNBC, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., lifted a legal freeze on such bets related to the outcome of the 2024 election Wednesday. That day, KalshiEx resumed trading on the congressional election.
“The appeals court decision rejected an effort by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to prohibit KalshiEx from offering ‘Congressional Control Contracts’ while the CFTC appealed the lower-court decision giving the green light for such bets,” CNBC reported.
Last week, the CFTC requested public comment on a rule certification filing by KalshiEx “which would amend its rulebook to include rules for a request for quote functionality and amendments to its prohibited transactions rule.”
Per the Associated Press, the commission has argued that allowing betting on elections poses a risk that some will try to manipulate the betting markets, and impact trust in the integrity of election results. However, gambling on elections is already legal in the U.K, the AP noted.