This is why…

Two weeks ago I noted that the state “attorney” “general” was playing a stupid game by making a law against Kalshi BY NAME.

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Ideally: Laws should apply to all people and all companies. Don’t steal. Don’t kill. Don’t defraud. Don’t evade taxes.

In practice: Most laws apply to one type or class or religion or political party, or one of two competing companies.

The traditional method is sneaky. When you see weird-looking exemptions and requirements in a law, you can be sure those provisions were exquisitely crafted to prefer one of several competing brands, or to leave a loophole for the richest. “All gorples with a diameter less than 3.75 inches and weighing less than 6 pounds are banned.” If you know something about gorples, this tells you MiniGorples Inc didn’t pay its bribe on time. If you’re not a gorplologist, you believe the officially stated reason for the precise requirement.

Kalshi vs Polymarket is mostly (not entirely) divided by party. In general Polymarket is D, Kalshi is R. The D “state” of Washington has openly endorsed Polymarket, the arson bookie, by explicitly banning certain kinds of wagers on Kalshi.

Specific bans on specific types of gambling WILL NOT WORK, and these assholes know it. Gambling gangs are expert at slithering around specific regulations, and Polymarket undoubtedly paid for this specific regulation. Only a total absolute unyielding ban on ALL commercial betting can be meaningful.

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And sure enough, Kalshi has called their bluff.

The company contends it is regulated and licensed to operate under the jurisdiction of the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which has “exclusive jurisdiction” over the market. “This is particularly surprising as it relates to the Attorney General’s non-enforcement against Polymarket, which, along with its CFTC-licensed DCM, operates an unregistered, offshore platform that accounts for the majority of its business and offers many categories of event contracts that are prohibited by the CFTC. “Put simply, a regulator with a legitimate concern regarding consumers would not block the door for one allegedly non-compliant operator but prop it open for all others.”

This is why legislatures who WANT TO MAKE A LAW STICK will write it generically.

Gambling in all forms is wildly destructive. Gambling ruins lives faster than alcohol. Elegant abstract gambling is the worst. Stock traders of the Dow, and these new “bet traders” who disguise arson contracts as stocks, can do far more massive damage than a home poker game or a horserace bookie.

The old obsolete “constitution” prohibited laws that name a target, and now Kalshi will be able to leverage the old provision to obtain OFFICIAL PERMISSION for all gambling.

Which is probably what the Washington “attorney” “general” intended in the first place. He’s a devil but he’s not dumb.