Evening Roundup: New Yorkers Turn Out for Election Day, and Why New York State Wants to Shut Down the Company Behind NYC’s Mayor’s Race Odds

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Janae Pierre: New Yorkers turn out for Election Day, and why New York State wants to shut down the trading platform letting people put money on the mayor's race. From WNYC, this is NYC NOW. I'm Janae Pierre.

Early election numbers show more people voted in New York City than in total for many previous year elections. The New York City Board of Elections says over a million people voted before noon on Election Day. That number includes more than 735,000 voters who cast ballots during the early voting period that ended Sunday. 37-year-old David Studer wasn't part of that early voting crowd. He hit the polls early Tuesday morning.

David Studer: I like voting on the day. I know that's like opposite of most Democrats, but I just feel like it's a fun thing to do with my daughter. Today we voted for Zohran. I'm not sure all his ideas are going to come to fruition, but I think he is someone I would be proud of to represent our city.

Janae Pierre: 78-year-old Barbara Hargraves disagrees. She thinks Mamdani isn't good enough for the job.

Barbara Hargraves: I'm voting for Cuomo, even though I really don't want to. He got a little more experience. At least you know where he's coming from.

Janae Pierre: Meanwhile, Sandra Chase thinks Curtis Sliwa is the best candidate. She even defended the Republican, as a random passerby questioned her vote.

Sandra Chase: I'm voting for him because he's the only man qualified to run this city.

Speaker 5: What qualifies him? Isn't he racist?

Sandra Chase: He is not racist. That's what the press would have you believe.

Speaker 5: What my mom would have me believe.

Sandra Chase: Well, your mom would have you believe he's a racist. He's anything but.

Janae Pierre: Make your voice heard at the ballot box. Polls are open until 9:00, Tuesday night. You can check out our voter guide on our news site, Gothamist.

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Janae Pierre: You've probably seen those couchy billboards around Times Square showing the latest odds on the New York City mayoral race. No? Well, the state says the company is a betting platform, but Kalshi denies it. More on that after the break.

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Janae Pierre: Have you seen those billboards around the city showing the latest odds on the New York City mayoral race? They're on some bus stops, and in Times Square, they have pictures of Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo side by side with percentages like Mamdani 92% and Cuomo 8% while the company behind them is called Kalshi. New York State is trying to partially shut it down. The way it works, users can trade something called event contracts on the outcome of future events, like the mayor's race. New York State says it's a betting platform, but the company says it's not. Now, I don't know the ins and outs of it, but WNYC's Jon Campbell does. Jon joins me now. What's up?

Jon Campbell: Hey, Janae.

Janae Pierre: Kalshi says it's not a betting platform, but people are putting up some real money, Jon. How does it work?

Jon Campbell: You're right. I mean, collectively, people are putting up millions upon millions of dollars on Kalshi and similar things like Polymarket, which is another company that isn't operating in the States at the moment. They're what's called predictive markets. What that means is the company lists all sorts of different events or things you can predict, such as the mayor's race, like we're talking about here. Let me tell you, at least one mayoral candidate has taken note. Take a listen to Zohran Mamdani at his big rally in Forest Hills last month.

Zohran Mamdani: When you see the Kalshi odds that have our chances of victory in the 90s, know this. You are reading the same things that Andrew Cuomo read when he went to sleep each night in June.

Jon Campbell: Here's how it works. You buy an event contract, predicting an event one way or the other, that costs you anywhere from a penny to $0.99. Then, if your prediction is right, you get a full dollar for each contract you have. Take the mayor's race. I mean, if you think Zohran Mamdani is going to win, you can buy as many contracts as you want for about $0.92 each as of Tuesday morning. If he does win, you get $1 for each share you bought.

Janae Pierre: Nice.

Jon Campbell: Andrew Cuomo is the underdog, so his contract only costs about $0.09. If he wins, you're really in the money. You get $1. It's a much higher profit margin since it only costs you $0.09 apiece to begin with. Janae, as Mamdani referenced in that clip, it was flipped before the Democratic primary in June. Cuomo was the big favorite in the Kalshi odds, but he lost.

Janae Pierre: All right, so what's the problem that the state sees with Kalshi's operations? Is it over the election?

Jon Campbell: No, it's not about the election, actually. At least not directly. It's really about sports. The State Gaming Commission regulates casino gambling in New York, and that includes mobile sports betting on platforms like FanDuel, DraftKings. You see their ads everywhere, too. Those are legal sportsbooks, and they're paying millions upon millions of dollars in taxes every year to the state.

The Commission sent a cease and desist letter to Kalshi late last month, accusing it of operating an illegal sports betting operation because, much like the mayor's race, you can buy these event contracts that pay out based on the outcome of a sporting event, too. The state ordered Kalshi to stop taking money on sporting events and horse races, but it didn't explicitly mention the money Kalshi takes in on elections. That's, in part, because the Gaming Commission only has jurisdiction over sports betting and casino gambling. Depending on what the courts decide, that could come into play later in the process.

Janae Pierre: Okay, so, Jon, I've never really had a reason to ask this question, but is it even legal to bet on an election?

Jon Campbell: Well, the short answer is no. The New York Constitution only allows limited forms of gambling, and gambling on elections certainly isn't among them. That's the thing. Kalshi says it's not a betting platform at all. It says that it's a futures market. Kalshi thinks that it is properly regulated by the federal government, not the state. New York and other states, including New Jersey, Nevada, they say that's nonsense because basically, if it walks like a bet and quacks like a bet, it's a bet.

Janae Pierre: It's a bet, yes.

Jon Campbell: I talked to a guy named Karl Sleight. He's an attorney who's based in New York State, and he specializes in gambling law.

Karl Sleight: Here we have a collision of the unstoppable force versus the immovable object, where you have a new frontier in the world of wagering. Who is going to regulate it?

Jon Campbell: He says states get to regulate betting. This whole thing comes down to whether the courts side with Kalshi or the states.

Janae Pierre: Jon, I know you mentioned that Kalshi sees itself as a futures market, but how has the company responded to the state's moves?

Jon Campbell: Well, Kalshi sued the state within a couple days of getting the letter. That was basically a lawsuit asking the federal courts to block New York State from enforcing that cease and desist order that we talked about. Again, the company's lawsuit argues it's not a betting platform at all. It made all those arguments we talked about, but then also points to the fact that people who buy these event contracts aren't betting against the house like you are at a casino or FanDuel, DraftKings, that kind of thing. Instead, these people are paired up with other people who are trading contracts of their own. That's what the main difference, Kalshi says, is between them and a sportsbook.

Janae Pierre: Okay, so what happens to folks who got an event contract on the mayor's race?

Jon Campbell: Well, for now, it's business as usual. I mean, the state is trying to at least partially shut Kalshi down in New York, but as part of Kalshi's lawsuit, it agreed to hold off on taking any firm action against the company until a judge gets to look over all the legal arguments, which, at the very least, won't be until late November. Until then, you can log on to Kalshi, you can put money on all sorts of different things, whether it's sports or elections or whatever else, even who will be the most searched person on Google at the end of the year, which Janae, by the way, Pope Leo is the leader in the clubhouse, based on the Kalshi price.

Janae Pierre: I'm guilty. That was me.

Jon Campbell: You've googled him?

Janae Pierre: Yes.

Jon Campbell: Second place, Donald Trump.

Janae Pierre: Ah, of course, of course. All right, so what's next for Kalshi?

Jon Campbell: Kalshi's fate rests on these court decisions, really, not just in New York, but in New Jersey and Nevada and all the other states that have taken some sort of action. Karl Sleight, that gambling attorney I talked to, he told me there's certainly a chance that different courts in different parts of the country will take different opinions on the matter. If that's the case, there's a good chance this could make its way all the way to the Supreme Court. Stay tuned.

Janae Pierre: We certainly will. That's WNYC's Jon Campbell. Thanks a lot, Jon.

Jon Campbell: Thank you, Janae.

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Janae Pierre: If you're thinking of heading to MSG for a Knicks game, it's a good time to do that because the team is on a five-game homestand through November 14th. The Knicks won Monday night 119-102 against the Washington Wizards at the Garden. Wednesday night, they host the Minnesota Timberwolves. On Sunday, they'll play the Brooklyn Nets, who are still looking for their first win of the season. The Knicks' final home game in this homestand will be Friday, the 14th, against the Miami Heat.

Thanks for listening to NYC NOW from WNYC. I'm Janae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow with the latest on the elections in New York and New Jersey.

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