Kalshi has roped-in Barack Obama’s former adviser Stephanie Cutter to its team during the tough times that the company and prediction markets in general are currently navigating.
The prediction market platform is facing legal fights in several states, fresh pressure from lawmakers, and new questions from sports groups.
Cutter’s arrival gives Kalshi a well-known political operator as it tries to defend its place in a growing dispute over event contracts in the U.S.
Kalshi said on Thursday that Cutter had joined as a policy adviser. She is a managing partner at Precision Strategies, the firm she co-founded in 2013, and she has held senior political and communications roles for top Democrats. Her past work includes advising former President Obama and other national party figures.
The company said Cutter would help sharpen its public message and expand its reach in Washington and beyond.
”Stephanie Cutter is the person you want on your team. She understands better than most how to cut through the noise and get your message to the right people,” stated Chief executive Tarek Mansour.
The appointment shows that Kalshi wants stronger backing in policy circles as pressure grows around its business.
Cutter also described prediction markets as a tool that can offer a more data-based view of public events.
”I’ve spent my career at the intersection of media, politics, and business, where noise and polarization often obscure the truth,” she noted in the company’s statement
She added that Kalshi gives Americans a data-driven option instead of guesswork and opinion.
Her hiring adds another political name to the company’s roster. Kalshi had already brought in Donald Trump Jr. as a strategic adviser in January 2025.
That move drew notice because it came shortly before President Donald Trump returned to office and it signaled the company’s interest in building ties across both major parties.
Court fights place Kalshi under sharper focus
Kalshi’s latest hire comes as the company faces a wider legal battle over event contracts. Over the past year, several state officials have challenged prediction market platforms that offer contracts tied to sports and other public events. Those officials argue that some of these products look more like gambling than regulated financial trading.
That dispute expanded again this week. The U.S. government sued Arizona, Connecticut, and Illinois on Thursday, saying the states had gone too far in trying to control contracts that fall under federal law.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said it has exclusive authority over these markets and has moved to defend that view in court.
The lawsuits have pushed the issue into federal court at a time when the industry is drawing more attention from many sides. State regulators are not the only ones taking a closer look. Lawmakers, sports bodies, and market critics have also raised concerns about how these products work and where limits should be set.
Kalshi has tried to frame itself as a legal and regulated venue for trading on real-world outcomes. Yet its critics keep pressing the point that not every contract should sit inside a federal market structure. Cutter’s addition suggests the company sees the policy fight as just as important as the legal one.
Congress and sports leagues widen the debate
The company is also facing pressure in Washington. Some Democrats in Congress have called for more scrutiny after what they described as suspicious trades tied to the U.S. invasion of Iran. Their concerns added new momentum to a debate over whether traders could gain from sensitive or nonpublic information in certain event markets.
In March, Kalshi and Polymarket said they would add guardrails meant to limit the use of insider information. Even so, some lawmakers introduced bills that could bar politicians from placing bets on these platforms.
As of press time, none of those proposals had become law, but the discussion has kept prediction markets in the political spotlight.
In addition, sports groups have raised their own objections. On March 30, the National Football League asked prediction market operators, including Kalshi and Polymarket, to avoid some sports-related contracts. As we reported, the league said certain events may be easy to influence or know in advance, which could raise fairness concerns.
That request matters because sports contracts have become one of the clearest flashpoints in this sector. The NFL’s step added another layer to the dispute and showed that concern is no longer coming only from public agencies. Private leagues now want a say in how these products are structured and offered.
Growth continues as disputes pile up
Even with that pressure, Kalshi has kept growing. On March 20, the company had raised $1 billion at a $22 billion valuation. Coatue Management led the round, giving Kalshi fresh capital as it pushes deeper into a market that blends finance, politics, sports, and public events.
Moreover, Kalshi had raised another $1 billion in December at an $11 billion valuation. That sharp jump in value showed strong investor interest, even as legal questions kept building around the sector. The company has used that growth to promote prediction markets as a regulated category rather than a betting product.
Kalshi has also faced disputes tied to specific market outcomes. On March 9, the platform was hit with a proposed class-action lawsuit over payouts linked to a market on whether Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would leave office.
Trading in that market reached about $54 million, but some users later argued that they had not been fully paid after the result was settled.