Kalshi and critic Mick Mulvaney find common ground at CFR roundtable
Kalshi's Robert DeNault and prediction market critic Mick Mulvaney shared partial agreement at a Council on Foreign Relations roundtable Thursday, July 24, 2026, despite clashing over sports contracts, consumer protections, and state authority. The debate centered on whether prediction markets serve as legitimate risk-hedging tools or constitute gambling, highlighting ongoing regulatory and philosophical divides over event-contract platforms.
The roundtable comes as Kalshi faces existential pressure from multiple directions. State courts in New York and Washington have rejected its federal preemption defense, while Congress considers bipartisan bills to ban sports event contracts nationwide. Any accommodation with critics like Mulvaney could soften the political opposition that now threatens Kalshi's core product line.
The company needs allies outside its legal team as it defends fronts in Michigan, Illinois, New Mexico, Washington, and New York while awaiting Second Circuit review. For Polymarket, the same legislative and state threats apply, so Kalshi's public positioning strategy offers a template worth watching. A softer regulatory voice in Washington might mean the difference between a negotiated carve-out and an outright ban. The August 5 deadline in Washington keeps everyone's timeline compressed.