Tit for tat
Kalshi takes on Maryland over sports events contracts
Lawsuit mirrors prediction market operator’s claims in Nevada and NJ.
In +More: UK’s gaming machine reforms ‘canned’.
UK sector braces for gambling and suicide reports.
Holland Casino warns on the impact of tax rises in the Netherlands.
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Swap shop
Old line spirit: Kalshi is suing the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency, seeking to block the state’s cease-and-desist order targeting its sports event contracts.
The lawsuit mirrors the prediction market operator’s ongoing challenges in Nevada and New Jersey, where it argues that its contracts are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and fall outside the scope of state gambling laws.
Maryland is one of six states (along with the aforementioned pair, Ohio, Illinois and Montana) to issue Kalshi and others with enforcement warnings.
I’ve been everywhere: The New York-headquartered operator, not shy of telling anyone it is available in all 50 states, won a temporary injunction in Nevada and is seeking similar relief in New Jersey and Maryland to continue operating during litigation.
The legal battle hinges on whether Kalshi’s contracts are federally regulated ‘swaps’ or state-regulated sports wagers in disguise.
New Jersey has already pushed back, arguing that Kalshi’s interpretation would exempt sportsbooks from gambling laws and leave key areas of wagering activity outside any state oversight.
The broader fight is intensifying ahead of the CFTC’s public roundtable on prediction markets, set for April 30, where regulators, trade groups and operators will weigh in on how, and whether, these markets should be allowed to operate across state lines.
High wire act: One contentious issue is the applicability – or not – of the Wire Act. Bill Miller, CEO of the American Gaming Association, said during the recent East Coast Gaming conference that it was “hard not to see this as a violation” of the act.
However, Dennis M. P. Ehling, a business litigation partner specializing in gaming law at Blank Rome, told InGaming.com that this might not be right.
“The rub here is that, if [sports event contracts] are legitimate hedging transactions under the Commodity Exchange Act, they do not involve ‘betting or wagering’ and, thus, do not trigger the Wire Act (or any other gambling laws),” he told the website.
To be or not to be: He added there was “quite some debate” as to whether Congress intended to have anything that might be considered casino gambling “treated as not gambling because it is done by a CFTC-registered market operator.”
“But if it is a hedging transaction, there is a strong argument that it is not a bet or wager,” he said.
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+More
UK: Plans to liberalise rules governing high street slot machine shops have been shelved, amid concern about the sector’s treatment of vulnerable customers, according to a report in The Guardian. The paper said ministers are set to row back on the plan to allow adult gaming centres and bingo halls to install more higher-stakes machines with the plan potentially dropped altogether.
Ireland: The newly established Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland has called for input from stakeholders and individuals impacted by gambling harms to help shape its Social Impact Fund. The SIF was established late last year and will be supported by a mandatory levy.
Resorts World Las Vegas has named Jennifer Roberts as its new chief compliance officer, as it seeks to put the recent regulatory scandal behind it. Roberts previously served as vice-president and general counsel at WynnBET, the online gambling division of Wynn Resorts.
Sky News in the UK has reported how deep fakes of two of its presenters have been used by scammers hoping to promote a black market casino. The UK Gambling Commission CEO Andrew Rhodes said of the sites involved, they were “illegal for a reason.”
All the feels: Lawmakers in South Carolina heard hours of stirring testimony on Tuesday as a House subcommittee reviewed a bill that would legalize commercial casinos in select counties. Bipartisan support pointed to economic revitalisation, job creation and education funding, with developers eyeing the shuttered Santee Outlets as a casino site. The state’s Governor Henry McMaster has vowed to veto any gambling bill that reaches his desk.
Sri Lanka: The cabinet has approved the draft Gambling Sports Regularisation Act, clearing the way for parliament to debate and vote on the bill. The law would create a new independent regulator to oversee land-based, offshore and online gambling under a unified legal framework.
Thailand’s proposed casino-entertainment complex bill has been delayed until the next parliamentary session after facing strong opposition, including from within the ruling coalition, reported Asia Gaming Brief. Experts say the setback, marked by public dissent from key Bhumjaithai Party figures, casts doubt on the bill’s chances of passing at all.
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Gambling and suicide
Public health fingerprints: The gambling industry is braced for the release of three research papers, funded by the UK Gambling Commission, into the relationship between gambling and suicide.
The studies have been funded to the tune of £1.6m from settlements between operators and the regulator, although questions are being asked about their academic rigor and value.
Inquiry: The papers include one titled ‘Gambling and suicide: psychological autopsy and qualitative inquiry’, led by Professor Amanda Roberts from the University of Lincoln, which examines the circumstances around 10 gambling-related suicides and a further 10 gambling-related suicide attempts.
The second is a sports-bettor survey involving secondary analysis of longitudinal survey data of regular sports bettors by Heather Wardle from the University of Glasgow.
This will examine the relationship between suicide ideation and different types of gambling behaviour.
The third is the data linkage study, which links healthcare data from GPs and hospitals to identify people with gambling problems at risk of suicide.
Political football: Dan Waugh, partner at Regulus, told C+M the industry should be prepared to respond to the media scrutiny that the release of the papers will inevitably engender.
“It’s an emotive and complex issue that has been oversimplified by the anti-gambling lobby for political purposes,” he said.
The lobbying effort: Waugh pointed out campaigning group Gambling with Lives (GWL) said in its annual report that “this represents a culmination of years of work with government and the Gambling Commission to fund work to understand why gambling is so lethal and what needs to change.”
“The findings are certain to be key to the reform agenda and wider practice,” the GWL report said.
Legitimate concerns: However, Waugh was scathing about the academic rigor of the papers, accusing the authors of using “made up numbers.” He also questioned the role of GWL and anti-gambling advocates as researchers in the Roberts and Wardle studies.
“There are legitimate reasons to be concerned that this research programme may be designed to support predetermined agendas rather than to improve understanding and alleviate suffering,” he added.
Questions and answers: The gambling industry will have to formulate a sensitive and nuanced response to the studies. “It cannot ignore the fall out from the studies as that would be perceived as not taking the issue seriously,” Waugh cautioned.
“It needs to display that it cares while at the same time questioning some of the findings. It is an issue that needs to be grasped,” he added.
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Taxing times
Dark materials: With less money being spent at its B&M establishments in the Netherlands and the company losing out in the battle for iCasino market share, Holland Casino was forced to warn of “material uncertainty” in its annual report.
Moreover, the accountancy firm that signed off the report added its concerns that without “far-reaching measures,” the company would struggle to pay the bills come 2027.
At this rate: The report comes after an increase in the Dutch gambling tax rate in January, in anticipation of which the company lowered the head count at its head office, closed a loss-making casino in Zandvoort and trialled a lower payout mix for roulette.
As it is, in 2024 Holland Casino saw revenues dip by 4% to €784m, but with costs remaining stubbornly high adj. EBITDA fell by 28% to €70.6m.
Land-based revenue fell 0.4% to €699m while online was down 26% to €85.2m.
The company said that after pausing its credit extension discussion late last year, it has recently come to an agreement that will see its debt facilities extended by another year to September 2026.
This will give the company “sufficient time” to assess the impact of the next leg of the gambling tax increase, to 37.8%, which comes into force next January.
Torn between two stools: In the annual report, CEO Petra de Ruiter made the point that it was “crucial” the company’s business plans and its aim to be a socially responsible operator “do not overly conflict with each other.”
Events
Apr 24: The future for the UK gambling sector, London
May 14: Player Protection Symposium, SBC Americas, Fort Lauderdale
Jun 5: Gaming in Holland, Amsterdam
Jun 9-12: IAGA, Berlin
Jun 26: Gaming in Spain, Madrid
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