Kalshi registers as New Mexico lobbyist employer without hiring a lobbyist

Kalshi registered as a New Mexico lobbyist employer on Aug. 24, positioning the prediction-market operator for a 60-day legislative session that begins Jan. 19. Its early-October disclosures showed it had neither hired a state lobbyist nor spent money on lobbying activities.

The registration did not identify any legislation or issues Kalshi intended to influence. New Mexico law requires organisations intending to lobby elected officials or lawmakers to register as lobbyist employers, but does not require them to disclose their policy targets. Blake Bee, Kalshi’s director of state relations, signed the form; the address listed on it corresponded to a UPS store in Glendale, Arizona.

The move came while Kalshi’s federal litigation with New Mexico tribal governments remained pending. As covered in September, the Mescalero Apache Tribe and the Pojoaque, Sandia and Isleta pueblos completed arguments seeking to block Kalshi’s operations on tribal lands.

The tribes alleged in May that Kalshi had provided people aged 18 and over access to sports gambling in New Mexico, violating federal law and tribal gaming compacts. Sports betting at tribally owned casinos requires customers to be at least 21 under the state’s existing compact framework, and the plaintiffs argued that Kalshi’s operations jeopardised revenue used to fund schools and other tribal services.

Kalshi has argued that the Commodity Exchange Act pre-empts the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and state gaming compacts, and that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has exclusive authority over its platform. Jacki McGavick, a company spokesperson, said New Mexico could still play a role within the federal framework despite Kalshi’s status as a CFTC-overseen derivatives market.

A separate complaint filed by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez alleged that Kalshi and KalshiEX operated an unlicensed online sportsbook, offering sports-event contracts to New Mexico residents, including people aged 18 to 20. The attorney general sought an injunction to halt the alleged operations.

The state Legislature may also consider a response. Rep. Derrick Lente, chair of the House Taxation and Finance Committee, has been working with gaming tribes on the issue and said he planned to meet the New Mexico Coalition of Gaming Tribes to discuss possible legislative action.

Nationally, Kalshi, Polymarket and the Coalition for Prediction Markets spent at least $3 million on federal and state lobbying and campaign contributions in recent months, according to an OpenSecrets analysis. Kalshi’s New Mexico registration did not yet translate into a disclosed state lobbying operation.