A lawyer working for a company representing Kalshi has claimed that the sports predictions platform Kalshi’s use of odds and advertising bets does not make the site a sports betting platform.
Josh Sterling, who works for Milbank, argues that while Kalshi presents bettors with the option to change pricing to American odds, Kalshi does not set the odds. Market fluctuations and investor trading volume determine the odds. Therefore, while these numbers are presented as odds, they are not.
Kalshi announced it was offering sports prediction markets on January 31, 2025, on X. It said, “Hello sports lovers… American Odds are live on the web.”
When challenged on the fact that Kalshi advertised many promotions using the term “bet” and selling merchandise mentioning odds, including hats reading “What are the odds,” Sterling emphasized that his remarks were explicitly related to the peer-to-peer trading platform and were unrelated to Kalshi’s marketing practices.
Sterling said to Sportico in an email, “If Kalshi presents buy/sell interest in terms of American odds, that does not change the fact that Kalshi is not setting those odds. The odds would reflect market sentiment in the event contracts available on its market (i.e., buy and sell interest).”