(CFTC position limits for physically backed contracts, such as a corn futures contract, are set to prevent excessive speculation and market manipulation by as few as four investors.) Nevertheless, Kalshi alleged that the revised contract is otherwise “similar” to its other event contracts, such as one that enables betting up to $25,000 on the end date of the Screen Actors Guild strike. The contract’s position limits, defined by Kalshi as “maximum loss exposure,” for one class of Kalshi-approved investors is up to $100 million. In Kalshi’s revised 2023 application, the Control Contract is designed for large institutional investors, such as hedge funds. For example, Kalshi offers $25 to a user of its website who refers a friend to Kalshi, provided the friend bets on a Kalshi event contract within a certain time and with a certain amount after referral. As we noted in our 2023 comment letter, Kalshi is a retail customer-oriented exchange. Kalshi first sought the CFTC’s approval for the contract in 2022, when the maximum bet on that contract was $25,000. However, because IATP is a public interest organization and betting on elections is not in the public interest, we are obliged to respond to the Kalshi proposed contract. IATP has submitted 45 comment letters to the CFTC since 2010, mostly on proposed rules affecting agriculture and managing climate-related financial risk. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has requested public comment on an application from Kalshi, a startup exchange, to request CFTC approval to allow trading of a contract based on the political party control of one or both chambers of Congress (“Control Contract”). Now, however, proponents of betting on elections want to do so in regulated exchanges with the legitimacy that regulation confers. In the early 1860s, half of all betting was done outside of Wall Street offices or on the steps leading up to stock exchanges. presidential elections has a long history, according to a November 2022 article in The New Yorker.

Where to bet us election