Kalshi shuts down betting on fate of alleged assassin Luigi Mangione

Betting markets like Kalshi are able to launch trades on hot-button issues in less than a day without prior approval from the CFTC. While the agency cannot stop contracts before they go live, it can pause trading for a review period.

Kalshi, which surged in popularity by providing the first legal election betting in the US in more than a century, offered so-called event contracts two days after the feds collared Luigi Mangione at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s on Dec. 9.

Mangione-related contracts are still being traded on other platforms, including crypto-only betting market Polymarket, which claims it hasn’t allowed US users to trade on the platform since 2022.

Former CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz – who previously served on Kalshi’s board – was floated by Trump to lead the agency.

The company’s founder was subjected to an FBI raid last month as part of a criminal probe into whether the exchange accepted trades from US bettors on Donald Trump’s historic victory over Kamala Harris, The Post previously reported.

Critics slammed Kalshi for allowing the futures trading on morbid events.

Robinhood Markets and ForecastEx soon followed suit, launching their own election contracts.

A New York-based betting market platform reportedly allowed users to place money on the fate of the alleged assassin arrested in the cold-blooded killing of UnitedHealth’s Brian Thompson — before the trades were abruptly shut down by regulators.

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