Americans can bet on congressional elections, appeals court rules

Topline

A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned an earlier ruling that banned Americans from betting on the outcome of congressional elections after objections from regulators who said the bets could harm the integrity of U.S. elections.

Important facts

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What you should pay attention to

A Kalshi spokesperson told CoinDesk the company will allow betting on election results “very soon,” but did not provide a timeline.

Important background

The CFTC has for years questioned efforts by U.S. betting markets to allow betting on congressional elections. The agency has refused to grant gambling platforms a license to provide betting odds on election results, although some international markets – including Polymarket and PredictIt – offer odds and allow users to bet. Betting on elections is not illegal at the federal level, although it is banned in some states, including Texas and Nevada. Kalshi, a New York-based prediction market, was sued by the CFTC in November 2023 over its betting offering on Senate and House election results. Kalshi then sued the CFTC, seeking to overturn the agency’s decision barring it from allowing these bets. A lower court ruled in favor of Kalshi on September 6, a decision that was supported by the U.S. Court of Appeals a week later and briefly allowed Kalshi to offer congressional betting before the ban was put in place.

Surprising fact

According to the Associated Press, Kalshi users were allowed to bet on the congressional election results for about eight hours before the appeals court blocked those bets. During this period, users could pay at least 76 cents to bet on the Republican victory in the Senate and 63 cents on the Democrat victory in the House of Representatives. A $100 bet on either bet would have yielded a profit of $29 and $54, respectively.

Further reading

CNNFederal appeals court halts ruling allowing prediction market Kalshi to offer US election betting | CNN business