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Kalshi CEO: New Rules and Major League Deals Could Strengthen Legal Defense

By jili tutorial · September 3, 2026

Kalshi CEO: New Rules and Major League Deals Could Strengthen Legal Defense

Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour has indicated that new regulations clarifying the legal status of sports prediction markets could be introduced in the coming weeks. The company also expects to announce partnerships with one or two major professional leagues in the near future. According to Mansour, these developments could help Kalshi navigate the heightened legal uncertainty created by a recent Ninth Circuit Court ruling against the company.

In his first interview since a three-judge panel determined that Kalshi’s sports contracts amount to sports betting, Mansour said the decision raised more questions than it resolved. “It added more legal uncertainty than there was before. It’s hard to argue with that,” he told RotoWire.

New Rules Could Arrive Soon, Says Mansour

The judges cited Rule 40.11 of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), which allows the CFTC to deem a contract contrary to the public interest if it involves gaming. The vague wording of the rule leaves significant room for interpretation. The CFTC has proposed new regulations that would more clearly permit sports event contracts, and Mansour said these could be finalized in the next few weeks.

“A lot of the announcements centered on Rule 40.11 – but there is a new rule coming in the next few weeks or next few months that is going to clarify that,” he said.

However, there has been considerable opposition to the CFTC’s proposed rules. Many argue that the agency may need congressional approval to amend the CEA to allow sports contracts.

Potential NBA Deal Signals Industry Shift

Kalshi also appears close to securing a landmark agreement with the NBA. Mansour did not explicitly confirm a deal but stated, “you should expect announcements very soon, at least from one of the two remaining major leagues.” Those two leagues are the NBA and NFL.

Kalshi already has an agreement with the NHL and announced deals with five MLB teams last week. The MLB and MLS have also partnered with Polymarket, signaling broader acceptance of sports prediction markets. The NFL, however, has been more reluctant to endorse the industry.

The league recently announced that Fanatics has joined DraftKings and FanDuel as an official sportsbook partner ahead of the new season. All three companies have launched prediction markets, but NFL executive vice president Renie Anderson said the deal does not extend to that area. “That’s not a space that we’re considering right now commercially,” she told ESPN.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, by contrast, confirmed that the league has been in talks with prediction market operators since March about a potential agreement similar to the NHL and MLB deals. RotoWire reported that the league “is close to finalizing framework to allow prediction markets to use the league’s data and integrity monitoring apparatus, similar to what’s been done with the NHL and MLB.”

Kalshi Users Are Trading, Not Betting, Claims Mansour

An agreement with the NBA would further validate Kalshi’s product, which the Ninth Circuit argued is sports betting. The 50-page opinion opened by citing Kalshi’s own advertising, which once called itself “the first app for legal sports betting in all 50 states.” Mansour says that ad, which is no longer running, used “betting” in a colloquial sense.

“If you’re using the word ‘bet’ colloquially, you can bet on stocks. When you buy Tesla stock, you’re sitting with a friend at dinner and you say, ‘I’ll just bet on Tesla,’ or ‘I just bet on Elon Musk.’ And it’s a normal thing to basically say,” he explained.

Whether Kalshi’s product is trading or gambling has been hotly debated in courtrooms and among industry stakeholders. “Have you asked our users? Our users, the people that are actually trading?” said Mansour. “Have you asked the winners on Kalshi, the people that are doing all the research? There are people that do research on the weather, or on politics, or on baseball. It’s PhD mathematics and statistics level work. It is incredibly impressive. It’s amazing. Those people are trading.”

He added: “Those people are trading in an open market. Some of them come from Jane Street, where they traded on options, on stocks. Now apply that to trading on options or swaps or futures, whatever you want to call them, on sports or economics. And if you ask those people, is it different? Are you trading? Are you betting? Well, they’ll give you a very clear answer: ‘I’m trading, and I made millions of dollars.’”

Critics Accuse Kalshi of Being Disingenuous

“For Kalshi to deny that its sports event contracts are sports bets under a reasonable person’s understanding is disingenuous,” stated the Ninth Circuit ruling. It added that “everyone, including Kalshi, knows” that its sports markets are sports betting.

Mansour’s framing of the platform as something other than betting has drawn sharp criticism from sportsbooks. Circa Sports CEO Derek Stevens called the company “thieves” for finding a way to avoid the taxes that come with running a sports betting operation. DraftKings co-founder Matt Kalish has been outspoken against Kalshi, and Circa’s Director of Operations, Jeff Benson, added fuel to the fire in a lengthy social media rant on Tuesday.

“You make money when people trade. Most people who trade lose. That is not a sportsbook talking point. That is their own data. They have said it out loud. 70% losers. Same as us. Same as day traders. Same as every other place where retail money meets an uncertain outcome,” Benson wrote on X.

He continued: “Call it betting. Call it trading. Call it predicting. Call it an event contract. The customer is still putting money on whether a team covers, whether a candidate wins, whether a number hits. The money is at risk. The outcome is uncertain. That is gambling. The rest is branding.”

Mansour counters that those arguing Kalshi is a betting platform have a vested interest, including gaming operators, state attorneys general, state legislators, and state regulators.

Ultimately, a Supreme Court ruling may be necessary to settle the debate. In the meantime, new CFTC rules and partnerships with major leagues could help arm Kalshi for the legal battles ahead.