Case 1:25-cv-01283-ABA Document 29 Filed 05/19/25 Page 6 of 17
Defendants’ argument (at 12-14) that sports events as a “categorical” matter lack “a potential financial, economic, or commercial consequence” is incorrect. Sports events can have significant financial consequences for a wide range of stakeholders: local communities, sponsors, television networks, advertisers. While Defendants cite (at 12-13) Kalshi’s D.C. Circuit brief, in which Kalshi explained that “at least” some “contracts relating to games” do not serve a “commercial or hedging interest,” Kalshi does not offer contracts on such events. Kalshi, unlike sportsbooks, does not offer “prop bets” on events like the coin-toss or the color of a Gatorade shower. The sports events for which Kalshi offers contracts have clear financial implications. To take one example related to Kalshi’s contract on the winner of the 2025 Masters: When Rory McIlroy won in a playoff against Justin Rose, television viewership rose by 33% over 2024, with significant financial consequences for CBS and advertisers. 2 Defendants’ assertion (at 13-14) that the “outcome of [that] event had no financial, economic, or commercial consequences for anyone other than McIlroy or Rose” would come as a surprise to CBS or sponsors like Nike. To take another (closer-to-home) example: When No. 16 seed UMBC prevailed over No. 1 seed UVA in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, its victory was worth “a staggering amount of money” for the school and stakeholders. 3 These are actual and significant financial consequences; they easily qualify as “potential” economic consequences under the CEA. 7 U.S.C. § 1a(47)(A)(ii); Flaherty , 2025 WL 1218313, at *6 (rejecting same argument). 4 2 Jay Coffin, Rory McIlroy’s Master Victory Delivered The Most-Watch Final Round in 7 Years , GolfDigest (Apr. 14, 2025), https://www.golfdigest.com/story/rory-mcilroy-masters-2025-win- delivered-most-watched-final-round-in-7-years. 3 Jeff Eisenberg, UMBC’s Upset Has Generated Publicity Worth a Staggering Amount of Money , Yahoo! Sports (Mar. 18, 2018), https://sports.yahoo.com/publicity-umbcs-upset-generated- worth-staggering-amount-money-054324907.html. 4 Defendants note (at 13) that Kalshi’s event contracts “do not involve the sporting event itself , but rather the outcome of the event.” But, as the UMBC example shows, the winner of a sports
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