There’s no “house” or “book” aspect to Kalshi. They are nothing more than contracts that are bought and sold between individuals.
There’s no “house” or “book” aspect to Kalshi. They are nothing more than contracts that are bought and sold between individuals.
Lots of types of contracts bought and sold between individuals are prohibited by law.
They problem is the federal government considers these particular contracts are generally legal, and the states have no authority.
Have you heard of Betfair? A UK company which has done "prediction markets" since 2000. In the Europe it is called a betting exchange and regulated like sports betting. And betting pools is another form of betting which is way older than that and there are no house in them either.
And by your argument poker or backgammon would not be gambling either.
>And by your argument poker or backgammon would not be gambling either.
They aren't. A sportsbook explicitly sets lines and you are betting that the line they set is incorrect.
How do they make money?
Just like other exchanges.
They charge trading fees.
They also place their own bets within their own market. They don't just make money on trading fees.
Sounds like a glaringly obvious conflict of interest?
Be careful, the market makers always win. If you go against them, you make yourself a target.
Of course it is, people will do whatever they can get away with.
A different entity provides liquidity.
There’s no house like in sportsbooks.
And there is no house in pool betting, poker or backgammon either. We still count all of them including betting exchanges (what has now been rebranded as prediction markets) are still normally regulated as gambling.
Not in the US.
Kalshi does not trade against its users.
That's their PR department talking.
https://straighttothepoint.substack.com/p/you-cant-have-it-b...
https://www.sportico.com/business/sports-betting/2025/kalshi...
Kalshi definitely does this
They just don't make any money off it.
What about the special partners that put up bets that are basically just methods to launder the fact that there's a house?