Nevada Problem Gambling Group Cuts Ties With NCPG Over Kalshi Partnership

The Nevada Council on Problem Gambling has confirmed it intends to formally sever ties this month with the National Council on Problem Gambling, citing the national organization’s ongoing financial partnership with Kalshi. The prediction market operator has been barred from taking sports-related event contracts from Nevada residents amid a sweeping legal fight over whether its products constitute unlicensed gambling under state law.

The split adds Nevada to a growing list of state-level affiliates and regulators pulling away from NCPG since the national group accepted a $2 million, two-year investment from Kalshi in May 2026 to fund a “trader health and safety” initiative. That decision has drawn sustained criticism from state gaming regulators and lawmakers who argue the partnership undermines NCPG’s core mission of addressing gambling-related harm.

A Partnership Under Fire Since May

NCPG’s arrangement with Kalshi created a new “Financial Services & Trading” membership subcategory specifically to accommodate the prediction market giant, which joined at the Platinum level alongside established gambling-industry members like MGM Resorts, DraftKings and FanDuel. Kalshi’s contribution was earmarked to expand consumer education campaigns, increase awareness of warning signs tied to problematic trading behavior, and fund what NCPG described as a strategic initiative focused on “trader health and safety.”

NCPG has maintained it takes no position on whether Kalshi’s event contracts legally qualify as gambling, saying its focus is strictly on identifying emerging risky behaviors and connecting people to support resources regardless of the product involved. A spokesperson for the organization has pointed out that the National Problem Gambling Helpline is already fielding calls from people describing harm tied to prediction markets, arguing that individuals and families are experiencing real financial and emotional consequences today regardless of how the underlying legal questions eventually get resolved.

That explanation hasn’t quieted the backlash. In July, the Michigan Gaming Control Board ended its own NCPG membership, with regulators there arguing the national group was effectively lending credibility to a company Michigan considers an illegal sports betting operation. The Michigan Gaming Control Board had already secured a temporary restraining order from an Ingham County court ordering Kalshi to stop offering sports contracts in that state, and regulators there said continuing an NCPG membership was inconsistent with the board’s own responsible gaming mission. Minnesota state Senator John Marty followed with a July 28 letter to NCPG Executive Director Heather Maurer demanding the organization drop Kalshi as a funder, writing that “no amount of money is worth undermining your mission.” Marty acknowledged NCPG’s reliance on funding from the regulated gambling industry but argued Kalshi belongs in a different category entirely, describing it as an unauthorized and unregulated gambling business rather than a licensed sportsbook.

Nevada’s Legal Fight With Kalshi

Nevada’s objection carries particular weight given how aggressively the state has pursued Kalshi in court. The Nevada Gaming Control Board filed a civil enforcement action against the company in February 2026, arguing that its sports-related event contracts amount to unlicensed wagering under Nevada gaming statutes and that Kalshi had failed to implement the kind of safeguards licensed sportsbooks must follow, including age verification and protections against insider betting and match-fixing. A district court judge granted a temporary restraining order the following month, later extending it into a preliminary injunction after rejecting Kalshi’s argument that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission holds exclusive jurisdiction over its event contracts.

Despite that injunction, Nevada regulators said their own investigators were repeatedly able to enter prohibited contracts on Kalshi’s platform from inside the state. Rather than face a contempt finding, Kalshi agreed in late July to implement a multi-source geofencing solution to block Nevada users, with a compliance deadline of August 12 and penalties of $120,000 per day for any delay. Nevada Gaming Control Board officials said the state had by that point successfully restricted every unlicensed prediction market operator known to be active within its borders, including earlier actions against Polymarket and Coinbase.

The Nevada Council on Problem Gambling has actively supported that litigation, filing amicus briefs backing the state’s position that prediction markets should fall under gaming regulators’ jurisdiction rather than being treated purely as financial instruments regulated federally. Nevada is one of roughly 14 states currently in litigation with prediction market operators, while others have moved to ban them outright through legislation. In July, attorneys general from 44 states sent a letter to the CFTC disputing the federal agency’s claim of exclusive authority over sports-related event contracts, arguing that states retain the right to regulate wagering activity within their borders regardless of how the products are structured on the back end.

What Comes Next

The Nevada Council’s departure signals that friction between state-level responsible gambling advocates and NCPG’s national leadership shows no sign of cooling, even as legal challenges to Kalshi and similar platforms mount across the country. With prediction markets continuing to expand their footprint into sports outcomes, the debate over how to classify and regulate them — and who should be trusted to fund the organizations meant to address related harm — is likely to remain contentious as more states weigh in.

Bettors following the broader prediction markets landscape can track how platforms like Kalshi stack up against regulated alternatives, including a closer look at whether prediction markets are legal in a given state before signing up.