The Nevada Council on Problem Gambling will formally sever ties this month with the National Council on Problem Gambling over the national group’s partnership with Kalshi, saying the relationship is no longer mission-aligned.
According to Nevada Current, the council’s executive director, Trey Delap, said months of discussion with NCPG leadership led to the conclusion that the two groups differ fundamentally on how a problem-gambling organisation should respond to emerging gambling risks. The council said Kalshi’s platform creates an elevated risk of harm for young people, and that describing the activity as “positions” or “trades” does not change its gambling-like effect or the risk it poses.
The Nevada council had sought to pause its membership in June, but NCPG said that was not an option. Delap said affiliation carries weight, and that Nevada could not lend its name and credibility to an organisation it believed was no longer aligned on a fundamental consumer-protection issue. He also argued that if young people are told they are investing or trading when they are actually engaging in gambling-like behaviour, it becomes harder for them to recognise when that behaviour turns harmful.
The council said Kalshi allows 18-year-olds to use the platform, while NCPG supports a minimum age of 21. Delap also said the upheaval over prediction markets shows gambling innovation moving faster than the public-health infrastructure designed to address it.
The dispute follows NCPG’s May move to create a Financial Services and Trading membership subcategory for Kalshi. The national group said the arrangement would support a trader health and safety initiative aimed at expanding education, awareness and evidence-informed resources in fast-changing financial-market environments. In May, the national group said Kalshi would contribute $2 million over two years to support the effort.
As covered in July, the Michigan Gaming Control Board also withdrew from NCPG after the Kalshi partnership.
The fallout comes as Nevada’s own regulator is already in court with Kalshi. On Feb. 17, the Nevada Gaming Control Board filed a civil enforcement action in Carson City District Court seeking a declaration and injunction to stop Kalshi from offering unlicensed wagering in violation of Nevada law. The board says sports event contracts, and some other event contracts, amount to wagering activity under state law and must be licensed.
Kalshi is described in the board’s filing as a financial services company that operates a derivatives exchange and prediction market offering event contracts for sale. The Nevada council also submitted amicus briefs in that case.
According to Nevada Current, 14 states are in litigation over prediction markets, and 44 state attorneys general wrote to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in July saying the agency lacks authority to regulate sports bets.
Delap said the upheaval shows a basic mismatch between the speed of gambling innovation and the public-health system meant to respond to it. The Nevada council is one of NCPG’s 35 state affiliates.
