People vote on the first day of in-person early voting in Virginia on September 20, 2024 at the Long Bridge Park Aquatics and Fitness Center in Arlington, Virginia.
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A federal appeals court has fast-tracked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's case challenging events exchange Kalshi's right to offer contracts for U.S. political elections.
The expedited appeal comes as Kalshi and another platform, Interactive brokersoffer a range of political contracts, including betting on the results of the US presidential election, US Senate races and party control of each chamber of Congress.
Kalshi advertised his presidential election contracts on electronic signs in New York's Times Square over the weekend.
The expedited appeal plan calls for the CFTC to file its legal brief by Wednesday and for Kalshi to respond with his brief by November 15, 10 days after Election Day. The CFTC then has until December 6 to file a response to Kalshi's brief.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit directed the clerk to schedule oral arguments at the “first appropriate date” after the filing of this answer.
Federal appeals courts typically take months to get briefings and oral arguments.
The CFTC requested a hearing on December 2nd.
A commission spokesman declined to comment on the timeline.
In an Oct. 2 court filing, the CFTC argued that a quick resolution of the appeal was in the public's interest.
The CFTC told the appeals court that election contracts were “vulnerable to market manipulation” and also posed a risk to election integrity or the public’s view of election integrity.
Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said in a statement that his company is “confident” that the law allows elective contracts.
Kalshi “looks forward to continuing to show how powerful these markets can be in promoting election integrity and bringing more truth into the system!” Mansour said.
The CFTC lost a lawsuit in September in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., seeking to block Kalshi from offering contracts that would give political parties control of both houses of Congress in November.
The Commission quickly appealed that ruling to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which immediately issued an injunction temporarily barring Kalshi from accepting congressional oversight contracts.
But the appeals court lifted that stay on Oct. 2, saying the CFTC had failed to demonstrate that the Commission or the public would suffer “irreparable harm” if that injunction were not left in effect during the appeal process.
Kalshi re-offered his congressional contracts and then contracts on the outcome of the presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as on other races.
As of Monday, Kalshi had secured more than $7 million in contracts based on the presidential election results.
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On October 3, Interactive Brokers began offering political contracts to its customers. According to the platform, more than 1 million such contracts have been traded.
“We have seen significant demand for choice-focused contracts on our platform in just a short period of time,” Thomas Peterffy, founder of Interactive Brokers, said in a statement. “This interest underscores the growing importance of political prediction markets.”
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