NCPG loses Michigan and Nevada boards over Kalshi funding row
The US National Council on Problem Gambling has been dropped by two state gaming bodies after accepting money from prediction-markets operator Kalshi, reigniting debate over who should fund addiction research.
The Michigan Gaming Control Board and the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling have both cut ties with the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), objecting to funding the non-profit accepted from prediction-markets operator Kalshi, according to iGaming Business.
The NCPG received $2m over two years from Kalshi to back a new "trader health and safety initiative", iGaming Business reports. Kalshi has seen its revenue increase tenfold in twelve months, the outlet notes.
Writing for iGaming Business, Jon Bruford said the departures reflect a wider standoff between US gambling regulators and prediction-markets firms, which argue their products are not gambling and therefore fall outside state gambling regulators' remit rather than under a federal body with no experience of gambling harm.
Bruford wrote that most, if not all, of the NCPG's members are effectively working against Kalshi and similar operators over that jurisdictional dispute, making the acceptance of Kalshi's funding especially awkward for the council.
He argued the episode illustrates a trust problem rather than a legal one: money from an operator under regulatory challenge can look like an attempt to buy goodwill, even where the funding itself is directed towards a specific harm-reduction programme.
Bruford said he expected Michigan and Nevada would not be the last regulatory bodies to walk away from the NCPG over the arrangement.
The wider piece set out Bruford's own view that the betting and gaming industry should, in markets where it operates legally, contribute to both treatment and research, and in that order. He argued the sector holds data on player behaviour that researchers need, and that sharing anonymised data without conditions would strengthen the evidence base on gambling addiction more than direct cash donations would.
He also argued that gambling addiction is too often bracketed with other forms of addiction treatment despite having little in common with substance-abuse cases, even though substance abuse can itself be a contributing factor to gambling problems.
The NCPG has not publicly responded to the departures beyond what is reported by iGaming Business. The dispute leaves open how the council manages funding relationships with firms it regulates, or whose regulatory status its own member bodies are actively contesting.