Kalshi, a federally regulated private predictions company, recently suggested to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that people should be allowed to gamble on the outcomes of elections. Using Kalshi, people can trade on the outcome of events, causing the value of their shares to move up or down depending on the probability of an event changing.
Kalshi’s request, however, quickly brought a negative response from lawmakers who said gambling on elections would harm election integrity. The leader of the effort to prevent gambling on American elections, U.S.
Senator Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, wrote in a letter to CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam: “There is no doubt that the mass commodification of our democratic process would raise widespread concerns about the integrity of our electoral process. Such an outcome is in clear conflict with the public interest and would undermine confidence in our political process. We urge the CFTC to deny Kalshi’s proposal.”
The letter noted this would be “the first time the CFTC allows a for-profit entity to offer event contracts on political events,” adding a gambling market on elections would make people more skeptical of election results.
In addition, Merkley wrote, a gambling market on elections would lead to wealthy people manipulating election results for profit. “For example, billionaires could expand their already outsized influence on politics by wagering extraordinary bets while simultaneously contributing to a specific candidate or party. There are strong ethics concerns as political insiders privy to non-public information could wield their inside information to profit at voters’ expense,” Merkley wrote.
He added, “Lastly, these bets could sway the outcome of our elections, undermining the voices of voters. If citizens believe that the democratic process is being influenced by those with financial stakes, it may further exacerbate the disenfranchisement and distrust of voters already facing our nation.”
U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland and Dianne Feinstein, D-California also signed the letter.
