Montana
Kalshi sues Montana AG to prevent gambling enforcement
Jonathan Ambarian
HELENA (KPAX) — An increasingly popular online prediction market has filed suit against Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, seeking to stop his office from enforcing state gambling laws against them.
The company Kalshi has filed a case in federal court, arguing that the state has no authority to regulate their operations.
Kalshi offers “event contracts,” where users buy a contract based on whether a predicted future event will or will not happen by a set time. If it does happen, users who bought “yes” contracts are paid out, and if it doesn’t, those who bought “no” contracts are paid out. Before the final resolution, the value of the contracts can vary based on the market, and users can sell them early based on that value.
Kalshi’s contracts cover everything from business and economic indicators to election results and other news events to sports. As the company has received more attention, it has also faced scrutiny from some states that consider its model too close to gambling. Kalshi has maintained it’s not the same because users’ contracts are financial “swaps” with other traders, rather than a bet against the market itself.
“Because traders do not take a position against the exchange itself, traders’ ability to hedge risk requires counterparties willing to assume risk in the hope of seeing a return,” the company’s attorneys said in their complaint.
Last year, an attorney representing the Montana Department of Justice’s Gambling Control Division sent Kalshi a cease-and-desist letter, saying that they had found probable cause that the company’s operations were gambling, “because participants risk money or other things of value for a gain that is contingent in whole or in part upon lot, chance, or the operation of a gambling enterprise.” They asked the company to stop offering event contracts in the state, saying they were seeking “voluntary compliance.”
Kalshi argues their operations are regulated by the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission, like other financial markets, and that federal law overrides any attempts by states to implement additional restrictions.
“One of Congress’s avowed goals in creating the CFTC was to avoid the ‘chaos’ that would result from subjecting exchanges to a patchwork of 50 different—and potentially conflicting—state law,” the company’s attorneys wrote in their federal complaint.
In the complaint, attorneys said Kalshi believed it had reached an agreement with the state to delay any enforcement while a federal appeals court hears arguments in a similar case centered on Kalshi’s operations in Nevada. However, they said the state sent another cease-and-desist letter last week, so they filed this action seeking to prevent Montana regulators from taking any enforcement action.
In the Nevada case, a judge barred Kalshi from offering contracts on sports. However, an appeals court ruled in a separate case last week that New Jersey did not have the authority to regulate Kalshi.
In addition, the CFTC has announced lawsuits of its own against states that sought to regulate prediction markets.
MTN reached out to Kalshi’s media contact, but as of Tuesday evening had not received a response.
HELENA, Mont. — Montana counties have accepted enough signatures for Seth Bodnar, running for U.S. Senate and Michael Eisenhauer, running in Montana’s 2nd Congressional District, to be on the November ballot, although counts are still unofficial.
County election officials are continuing to verify signatures submitted by Tuesday’s deadline as part of the candidate petition process.
The Montana Secretary of State’s Office has not yet verified, certified or accepted the petitions, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
Counties must submit candidate petitions to the Secretary of State’s office by June 1.
The Secretary of State’s office will then conduct its “statutory review to ensure the petitions meet the necessary legal requirements under law.”
The deadline for the November general election ballot to be certified is Thursday, Aug. 20. By then, all qualifying candidates and any potential ballot issues that qualify for the general election will be officially certified.
The following was out by the Montana Secretary of State’s Office:
The attached report is unofficial. It includes totals that the county election officials have processed and entered in the system. These totals do not represent what the Secretary of State’s Office has received, reviewed, tabulated, or certified. The certified totals may differ from what is reflected.
Seth Bodnar, U.S. Senate
- 13,327 required
- 18,772 accepted
- 7,812 rejected
Kimberly Persico, MT-01
- 6,742 required
- 563 accepted
- 156 rejected
Michael Eisenhauer, MT-02
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- 7,274 required
- 7,754 accepted
- 4,720 rejected
Severe storms moved through parts of Montana on Thursday, prompting a total of 5 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings. Reports included strong wind gusts and hail in several communities, including Augusta, Choteau, Sunburst, Bigfork, Kalispell and Evergreen.
The strongest reported wind gust was 60 mph near Augusta, while hail up to 1 inch was reported near Evergreen and Kalispell.
STORM REPORTS:
12 SE Grant — 56 mph thunderstorm wind gust
7 NNE Augusta — 60 mph thunderstorm wind gust
5 ENE Choteau — 59 mph thunderstorm wind gust
Sunburst — 54 mph thunderstorm wind gust
Ennis — 59 mph thunderstorm wind gust
3 SSW Ennis — 52 mph thunderstorm wind gust
2 E Helena — 54 mph thunderstorm wind gust
19 E Swan Lake — 56 mph thunderstorm wind gust
2 NNW Yaak — thunderstorm wind damage – Multiple downed trees reported along Highway 2 between MM 3 and 8
3 WSW Blacktail — 53 mph thunderstorm wind gust
1 NNW Troy — 49 mph thunderstorm wind gust
5 ENE Choteau — 56 mph thunderstorm wind gust
Turah — 0.88″ hail
1 NNW Bigfork — 0.75″ hail
3 SW La Salle — 0.50″ hail
2 N Evergreen — 1.00″ hail
1 W Kalispell — 1.00″ hail
3 WNW Kalispell — 0.75″ hail
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LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — A man from Las Vegas has been sentenced after stealing coins and precious metals from a Helena shop in Montana.
This comes after Bishop Lott, 47, pleaded guilty in January to one count of interstate transportation of stolen property.
A judge sentenced Lott on Thursday to 27 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $276,153.08 in restitution to the Helena business as well as five other theft victims.
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The government alleged in court documents that Lott, along with Ricky Rynell Rose, broke into Wayne Miller Coins in Helena and stole nearly $59,000 in coins and precious metals from a Helena business.
Rose pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 39 months in prison.
The Helena Police Department received a call on March 3, 2024, reporting that Wayne Miller Coins had been burglarized earlier that day.
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As part of their investigation, Helena police officers reviewed surveillance footage from multiple businesses. They analyzed email account data, which led them to Lott and Rose, who had taken the stolen material to Nevada.
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