With Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman (R) suing gambling companies and prediction markets, The Bluegrass State joins 16 others in filing lawsuits against illegal gambling operations and failure to offer proper resources to combat gambling addiction.
Coleman's lawsuits, filed last week in Franklin Circuit Court, are against Kalshi, Polymarket, and VGW.
Kalshi and Polymarket are multi-billion dollar prediction market platforms that allegedly allow users to bypass the consumer protections and tax requirements mandated by state law. VGW is an interactive entertainment company that offers free-to-play online social games.
According to the lawsuits, Kalshi and Polymarket are doing business without a Kentucky gaming license or following state regulations.
Last year, Kalshi saw nearly $23 billion in contract volume, 89% of that coming from sports wagering. But Dr. John Kindt, professor of business and legal policy at the University of Illinois, says these markets allow for so much more than just sports betting.
"They're going into all other types of venues, [including] the stock market, anywhere there's money to be made," he recently told American Family Radio.
Dr. Kindt and Jenna Ellis discussed how far the topics of possible bets span, saying that Polymarket had gamblers who made $400,000 betting on the capture of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission says these markets are regulated, but Dr. Kindt asserted that they are not. Certain prediction markets are treated as derivatives markets that are allowed to operate under federal oversight.
"It's really disturbing that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission would not just be permitting this, but promoting it and enabling it and even suing those states which are trying to restrict it," he lamented.
Meanwhile, voters seem to be indicating that they do not support gambling.
In Georgia, for example, President Donald Trump's endorsed gubernatorial candidate Burt Jones lost in a huge upset to Rick Jackson, who campaigned on an anti-gambling platform.
This may be interpreted a sign that Americans are tired of the gambling companies taking money out of their pockets.
