Kalshi is giving $3 million to a state that is currently suing to shut it down.
The New York Post reported that America’s leading prediction platform partnered with and donated to New York nonprofit Housing Works to expand healthcare and other efforts for local workers.
- Kalshi is headquartered in New York near a Housing Works location.
- The donation is the largest single-donor contribution in Housing Works’ history.
- New York officials filed a lawsuit against Kalshi at the end of July.
Kalshi is headquartered in the Lower Manhattan SoHo neighborhood of New York City. Its $3 million contribution to Housing Works — which coincided with a new multi-year partnership — will increase access to healthcare, job training and community interests. It is the largest single-donor gift in the organization’s 36-year history.
“We are proud that a New York-based company has chosen to invest in New York communities at a moment when the need for healthcare, workforce opportunities, and supportive services continues to grow,” Matthew Bernardo, Housing Works President, said in a statement. “This partnership will help protect and expand services that thousands of New Yorkers rely on every year.”
More than 500,000 New York City workers don’t have healthcare. Even more could be left uncovered in the next 18 months, according to Kalshi and Housing Works.
The nonprofit’s effort will expand and continue care for individuals in need, regardless of their ability to pay. It will also transform Housing Works’ retail locations into community outreach hubs.
“Our first office was right next to the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in SoHo, and over the years we learned that Housing Works provides healthcare, housing, and job training for New Yorkers who need it,” Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said. “These are our neighbors. This is a city where two people in a small apartment can build a company, and it must be a city where everyone gets a fair shot.
“Being the financial capital of the world and taking care of your people aren’t mutually exclusive. New York can and will do both, and we intend to do our part.”
New York officials want Kalshi gone
Kalshi’s philanthropic efforts come during a time when it is fighting to remain operational in the Big Apple.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against the company in July, accusing it of running an illegal gambling platform. The lawsuit takes special issue with the offering of sports event contracts, through which users can buy and sell predicted outcomes of sports games and actions.
It also comes in response to Kalshi refusing to acquiesce to the state gaming licensing process, which would subject it to a 51% revenue tax, just like online sportsbooks. Prediction platforms such as Kalshi routinely argue that the federal regulation of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission preempts them from state authority.
“Kalshi has chosen to ignore New York’s gaming laws, which exist to protect consumers, prevent problematic gambling, deliver funding for critical public services, and ensure that every company plays by the same rules,” Gov. Hochul said in an announcement confirming the lawsuit’s submission.
“This choice has consequences, and working closely with Attorney General James, New York is taking action to stop this illegal behavior and bring Kalshi into compliance, because no company is above the law.”
“New York’s gambling laws protect children from underage betting and help combat gambling addiction,” Atty. Gen. James added. “No matter what they call themselves, prediction markets like Kalshi are gambling platforms, plain and simple. By ignoring our laws, Kalshi is running an illegal operation and harming New Yorkers in the process. We are taking them to court to uphold our laws and protect New Yorkers.”
Kalshi’s platform is still available to New Yorkers aged 18 or older at the time of writing.
New York’s judicial action against Kalshi mirrors that of numerous other states. Michigan, Nevada and Washington completely banned the platform’s prediction markets, while Maryland, Massachusetts and Ohio have limited specific types of contracts.
According to analytics platform DeFi Rate, Kalshi processed $18.4 billion in trades during the weekly period that ended on Oct. 4. That included an all-time daily record of $3.9 billion on the final day of the week.
