Stock Market

Story: Kalshi Eyes $40 Billion Valuation as CFTC Takes Kentucky to Court Over Prediction Markets

By James Thorp

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CFTC Opens Public Comment on New Framework. While the courtroom battles drag on, the CFTC is also running a public consultation on a new…

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Cboe Launches Binary Options on Mini S&P 500. Away from the legal mess, Cboe made a notable move. The exchange launched Cboe Predicts, a product…

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Polymarket Signs Bundesliga Deal — Without the Data. Polymarket scored a partnership with Germany's Bundesliga, becoming its official prediction market…

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The CFTC sued Kentucky. That's the short version. The longer one involves Kalshi, Polymarket, the Bundesliga, and a federal agency trying to draw a line that several states keep…

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Kentucky had already gone on offense, filing suit against both Kalshi and Polymarket and accusing them of running illegal sportsbooks under state law.

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And it's not just Kentucky. Illinois, Minnesota, and Rhode Island are all scrutinizing prediction market platforms right now, each state with its own legal angle.

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The central jurisdictional question is murky and probably won't get cleaner fast. State gambling laws were written long before anyone imagined a platform where users bet on…

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Away from the legal mess, Cboe made a notable move. The exchange launched Cboe Predicts, a product offering binary options on the Mini S&P 500. Yes or no.

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Interactive Brokers is already offering the contracts. Charles Schwab is expected to follow. That's mainstream distribution, and it matters.

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More context: Poland Arrests 4 Suspects in SIM-Swap Crypto Theft Tied to Merry

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Polymarket scored a partnership with Germany's Bundesliga, becoming its official prediction market partner in the U.S. It's a real branding win.

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But there's a catch, and it's a big one. The deal doesn't include access to official match data.

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Data access is becoming the unglamorous make-or-break issue in prediction market sports deals. Branding gets the press release. Data gets the product working.

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Kalshi, for its part, is reportedly seeking to raise new funding at a valuation of around $40 billion. That's a significant jump from its previous valuation of $22 billion.

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Related: DOJ Seizes Huione Group Cloud Servers in Crypto Fraud Crackdown

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