Federal regulator boss overseeing election betting resigns

Posted: January 8, 2025, 10:09 am.

Last updated: January 8, 2025, 10:16 am.

The chairman of the federal agency that regulates derivatives markets, which has recently expanded to include controversial bets on politics, is resigning.

Rostin Behnam was first appointed to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) by President Donald Trump in July 2017. After serving on the five-member commission, President Joe Biden promoted Behnam to the role of chair in January 2021.

A Democrat and former lawyer, Behnam has opposed allowing online betting exchanges like PredictIt and Kalashi to facilitate contracts on political events and elections. With Trump returning to Washington DC this month, Behnam says he will depart effective February 7.

Over the past several years, a number of domestic and global events have tested the resilience of all financial markets. I am proud that the Commission took deliberate and deliberate decisions to ensure continued strength. We worked to address regulatory shortcomings and uncertainty. “We also responsibly onboarded new entrants to support innovation,” Behnam wrote in his Jan. 7 resignation letter.

“I am pleased to leave the CFTC and the derivatives markets stronger than ever. Our staff has demonstrated organizational drive and operational effectiveness. We have modernized, built capabilities, and strengthened our markets with the support of Congress,” Behnam concluded. New opportunities to incorporate shape-shifting innovations are welcomed.”

Less likely to be regulated

Behnam's departure is probably a good thing for Kalshi and sites like it that offer peer-to-peer betting on current events and political events.

Behnam was adamant in opposing predictions of betting on elections. While proponents say such markets are more accurate predictors of election outcomes than traditional voting and can be used for educational purposes, the CFTC chair said they jeopardized the integrity of the democratic process.

“Electoral gambling fundamentally cheapens the sanctity of our democratic process,” Benham wrote to Congress last summer. “Political stakes alter the motivations behind each vote, replacing political commitments with financial calculations.”

Gambling is nothing new for Trump as he has earned a large portion of his wealth from casinos in Atlantic City and Indiana, which he has promised to deregulate in his second four-year term in the White House. He is expected to appoint a conservative to CFTC chair who supports the free market with less – not more – federal oversight.

trump and pol

The incoming president has despised elections throughout his political career. The former casino tycoon has taken a stand against pollsters who he believes have a political bias against him.

In 2020, polls again showed Trump losing, and they turned out to be right. But Joe Biden winning the popular vote by 4.5% was well below the polling average of 8%.

Last November, pollsters had even pegged the race between Trump and Kamala Harris. Trump won easily with 312 Electoral College votes and won the popular vote 49.9%–48.4%.

While polls suggested a close race, the betting market gave Trump an implied chance of winning at 61% and Harris only 39%.