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Salon
Natalie Chandler

Trump Jr. joins betting-market startup

Donald Trump Jr. has joined Kalshi, the betting platform that predicted his father's reelection, as an adviser.

Trump Jr. said he "immediately knew I had to contribute to their mission" when Kalshi called Trump's win hours before the media did.

Kalshi successfully challenged the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's ban on election betting in October. Americans then used the platform to legally bet $100 million on the presidential race. Kalshi attracted about $1 billion in overall bets on the election.

The court ruling reopened the door for election betting, a common practice in American races until the turn of the 20th century. The CFTC has appealed the ruling. 

Kalshi has countered the appeal, saying that only Congress has the authority to ban election betting. 

Trump, whose second term begins Monday, hasn't named a new CFTC chair.

Prediction markets want to expand election betting in the U.S. after gaining traction in 2024. Experts have said the Trump administration's return to power could help.

Presidential race bettors put even more on Polymarket, a crypto-based platform banned in the U.S. Its CEO, Shayne Coplan, told CNBC he received election-night calls from Mar-a-Lago, where the Trump campaign was tracking his victory on Polymarket.

Days later, the FBI raided Coplan's New York City home and seized his electronics — part of an investigation into Polymarket allegedly accepting trades from U.S.-based users, Bloomberg reported. Coplan suggested the raid was politically motivated. 

Trump Jr. has partnered with other businesses since the election. He joined the advisory board of drone-maker Unusual Machines in November, and the board of directors of e-commerce company PublicSquare in December, CNBC reported.

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