Kalshi gave $63,000 in Hawaiʻi as prediction-market ban stalled

Kalshi reported $63,000 in political contributions in Hawaiʻi between July 16 and Oct. 19, directing $25,000 to the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi and the remaining $38,000 to 22 Democratic candidates. The prediction-market operator has also hired two lobbyists in the state, including former Rep. Cedric Gates, who represented the Waiʻanae Coast for four terms.

The contribution to the state Democratic Party, made Sept. 1, tied for the largest single gift the party reported during the cycle, according to Civil Beat. All 22 individual recipients were Democrats. Thirteen were House members who voted in March for a bill that would have banned certain prediction-market contracts, and four had co-introduced it.

Four House candidates received Kalshi’s maximum permissible $2,000 contribution. That sum was about 7% of the median $28,519 spent by a winning candidate in a contested Hawaiʻi House race during the 2024 two-year election period. Rep. Andrew Takuya Garrett, a co-introducer of the ban, received $1,000 in October.

Garrett said taking a contribution should not be read as an endorsement of a company’s legislative agenda. He said he continued to oppose legalized gambling and backed efforts to ensure prediction-market platforms did not undermine Hawaiʻi’s existing gambling laws.

Kalshi offers yes-or-no contracts that pay $1 when a holder’s answer is correct, on subjects including elections, hurricanes and speeches. It argues that federal law pre-empts state gambling restrictions, and operates in Hawaiʻi even though gambling is illegal there. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversees Kalshi as an exchange.

The state House approved the proposed ban 49-0 on March 10 after Rep. Scot Matayoshi and 15 other Democrats introduced it in January. The measure would have prohibited contracts involving sports, politics, death and other subjects. A House committee concluded that products marketed as financial innovations functioned as gambling systems built around “human suffering, political instability, and catastrophic events.” The Senate did not hold a hearing after its House passage.

The issue is part of a wider conflict over state authority. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Kalshi in its dispute with Nevada, while two other federal appeals courts have reached conflicting conclusions. New Jersey gaming regulators have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the issue, and Hawaiʻi Attorney General Anne Lopez joined the states’ side in filings before both the 9th Circuit and the Supreme Court.

Stateline reported that Kalshi, Polymarket and the Coalition for Prediction Markets had spent at least $3 million on lobbying and campaign contributions at federal and state levels during 2026. Kalshi had hired at least one lobbyist in 41 states and spent nearly $1 million on federal lobbying in the first half of the year.

Hawaiʻi lawmakers have requested a working group to examine gaming connected with the new stadium district and ships, with a report due before the 2027 legislative session. The group reserves three places for gaming-corporation representatives and includes Boyd Gaming, FanDuel, Aristocrat and Marnell’s Kent Caputo, but not Kalshi. Senate President Ron Kouchi said it was premature to forecast action before the group completes its work and senators caucus.