Kalshi, Polymarket Spend $5 Million on Political Donations Amid Regulatory Pressure

Prediction market operators Kalshi and Polymarket, along with their founders, have donated at least $5 million combined to Republican and Democratic political groups this election cycle, according to campaign finance records and a remittance document seen by Reuters. The outlay marks a sharp increase over the 2024 cycle and represents the firms' first significant political spending. Republicans received $2.7 million, with Democrats taking the remainder. The document shows Polymarket made a previously unreported $1 million donation to House Majority Forward, a Democratic nonprofit that does not disclose its donors. Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan, who previously gave almost exclusively to Democrats, directed roughly $1.3 million to Republican committees, candidates and a super PAC backing Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Just over a third of total spending went to state-level groups, per analysis by the Center for Political Accountability. The spending surge comes as both companies fight state efforts to regulate their wagers as gambling and face federal scrutiny over insider trading and national security concerns.