The forecast market calci violates Massachusetts’ gambling laws, the attorney general filed in lawsuit Friday.
Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell argued that the sporting event agreement introduced by Karshi in January 2025 violated the state’s sports betting law, which requires operators to be licensed. Campbell has asked the court to block Karshi from offering the state’s sports forecast market without a license, and is seeking currency and other relief.
The forecast market has been gaining popularity over the past few years, with crypto-focused companies like Polymarket and companies like Kalshi seeing a great deal of interest in questions like who will win the last presidential election. The Massachusetts submission points out that Calci offers a forecast market for these different categories, but its only fees focus on the company’s sports-related betting.
Filing says that Kalshi’s forecast market, which is configured as a binary option, operates in the same way as licensed sports betting operator products, comparing it to Fanduel as an example.
“Karcis is in the business of accepting bets defined as “amount of money or value risked to uncertainty” in amateur and professional sporting events in the form of selling sporting event agreements,” he added, “Karcis’s sporting event agreements, when defined by Masachets’ laws and applicable regulations, constitutes sports betting.”
Karshi had been experiencing a long legal battle at the federal level when he fought the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over the legality of its business model, but regulators ultimately retreated earlier this year. Brian Quintz, a former CFTC committee member who is currently one of Karshi’s board members, is the candidate for President Donald Trump, who runs the agency.
Part of the Massachusetts lawsuit refers to Karshi’s actions that the Attorney General’s office claims are designed to hook possible bettors.
“Kalshi’s platform employs behavioral design mechanisms drawn from gambling psychology, including the ability to promote impulsive engagement, leverage award predictions and reduce user perceptions of financial risk,” the submission states.
I pointed out the design of the calci website. Odds were presented in black font, including offering possible payments in “bright green font, colors that show safety and accuracy.” “This interface design subtly promotes high-risk transactions by highlighting rewards while obscuring risk.”
“If Classics wants to participate in the Massachusetts sports gaming business, they must obtain a license,” Campbell said. “Sports betting involves a significant risk of addiction and economic losses and must be strictly regulated to mitigate the impact on public health.”
In a statement, a spokesman for Calci said, “Calsi offers users a fair, transparent, federally regulated nationwide market, rather than having conversations with Calci as many other states have done. To be a company ready to pioneer this technology and defend it again in court.”
