(Office of Iran’s Supreme Leader/AP Photo)
Bookmaker Kalshi is being sued for failing to pay out $54 million to users who predicted Iran’s supreme leader would step down on March 1, just days after he was killed.
The class-action lawsuit was filed Thursday, calling Kalshey’s conduct “deceptive” and “predatory.” Ayatollah Ali KhameneiIran’s former supreme leader was killed along with other senior government officials in attacks carried out by the United States and Israel this week.
“With U.S. Navy fleets massing on Iran’s doorstep and military conflict not only foreseeable but widely expected, consumers understand that the most likely – and in many cases the only realistic – mechanism for an 85-year-old authoritarian leader to be ‘stepped down’ is through his death. Defendants understand this as well,” the lawsuit states.
Chief Executive Officer of Kalshi Tariq Mansoor defended the company’s decision, saying his company does not deal with markets “directly related to death.”
“We will not list markets directly related to deaths,” the CEO wrote on X on Saturday. “When there are markets where the potential outcome involves death, we design rules to prevent people from profiting from death. That’s what we’re doing here.”
In response to news of the lawsuit, Mansour redoubled his efforts to defend his refusal to pay.
“We stand by the principles and the law: 1. Kalshi did not deviate from its market rules. They are clear that death does not allow the market to make a ‘yes’ decision,” he wrote. “2. Kalshi’s rules prevent ‘death markets’ where traders profit directly from death. This is a good thing (+ we are a US market). 3. Kalshi makes no money here and even repays all losses out of pocket. Not a single user walks away from this market losing money.”
Mansour argued that the “death exception” rule had always been part of his company’s policy.
“While the rules are clear and we try to emphasize them, traders say they are not prominent enough,” he said. “We hear you and we have decided to reimburse all costs out of pocket as well as all net losses from market transactions.”
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