Kalshi CEO says state oversight would push prediction markets offshore

Kalshi chief executive Tarek Mansour warned that letting individual states oversee prediction markets would drive the sector abroad instead of resolving the tug-of-war between state and federal authorities, according to reporting by Complete iGaming. At DC Fintech Week, he framed the matter as a binary: either such markets operate inside the US or they relocate overseas.

Mansour argued that prediction markets should remain under federal oversight rather than a patchwork of state rules. In his account, state regulation would not produce a workable domestic framework for the sector and would instead drive operators elsewhere. He also said he feels “pretty good” about Kalshi’s broader position in the regulatory fight.

Mansour also made the case that Kalshi’s sports-event contracts qualify as financial contracts subject to federal rules. He dismissed the contention that these products lack sufficient economic consequences to meet the federal standard, describing that view as “ludicrous.”

At the heart of the matter is how contracts linked to sporting events should be classified: as instruments governed by federal financial regulation or as betting products subject to state gambling regimes. The report notes that the regulatory contest has yet to be resolved, and the eventual classification and oversight of prediction market offerings in the US will hinge on the agencies or legal forums that end up ruling on them.