Self-professed underdog Kalshi has spent over $1 million on federal lobbying

Predictions market Kalshi has spent $1,190,000 on federal lobbying since 1998, sparking criticism among the gambling sector.

According to data from Open Secrets, Kalshi has spent well over a million dollars on federal lobbying. While that’s perhaps not out of the ordinary for gambling companies, with corporate lobbying part and parcel of the US political system, it has sparked criticism for the prediction market.

It’s a fairly standard way for companies to maintain relationships with politicians. Indeed, former US senator Blanche Lincoln, who received lobbying payments from Kalshi in 2024, wrote a letter of support to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in favor of the expansion of prediction markets into sports betting.

2024 was Kalshi’s biggest year of federal lobbying, when the company spent $670,000, up from $240,000 in 2023, $180,000 in 2022, and $20,000 in 2021. So far in 2025, the platform has spent $80,000.

It’s not the practice of lobbying that many are taking umbrage with, however, but the way that the platform has branded itself. In the past, it referred to itself as an ‘underdog’ – yet also seems to be cosying up to some of the most influential people in the country.

The underdog slogan has been used widely in promotional materials, but is now being critiqued by people on social media.

History was made by the underdogs. pic.twitter.com/wRISfNXtB5

— Kalshi (@Kalshi) July 10, 2025

“Calling yourself an underdog when your founders graduated from MIT, worked at the likes of Goldman Sachs and Citadel, have the financial backing of the likes of Sequoia Capital, NEO, Peng Zhao, Charles Schwab (the person), Henry Kravis… etc,” wrote @astraffon on X. “Susquehanna is your market maker plus all their influence, Trump Jr. is a strategic advisor, and the nominee to head the CFTC (your regulator!) sits on your board… seems very rich.”

Another X user, @WALLACHLEGAL, wrote: “Kalshi as underdogs? Spare me.” They went on to claim that President Trump won’t enforce CFTC regulations against Kalshi, implying that the so-called ‘underdog’ has backing from the most powerful man in the world.

Indeed, the only lobbyist that Kalshi has worked with in 2025 is Miller Strategies, headed by CEO Jeff Miller who is known to have strong connections in Trump’s White House.

Readwrite has approached Kalshi for comment.

Featured image: Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

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