Professionalpoker champion Daniel Negreanu has entered a partnership with Kalshi, theprediction market platform that allows users to trade on outcomes rangingfrom sports to politics across 50 American states.Thecollaboration was announced today (Tuesday) by Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour,who described parallels between Negreanu's career journey and thecompany's own path through regulatory challenges. Negreanu, knownas "Kid Poker," brings seven World Series of Poker (WSOP) braceletsand over $56 million in tournament winnings to the partnership. "Kalshi'sfight for prediction markets has followed a similar path," Mansour wrotein announcing the partnership. "We have failed and been rejected moretimes than I can remember, but we did not waver in our commitment to thevision. Expand the world of financial markets, no matter the cost, no matterthe hardship".For criticsand regulators, however, this may serve as fodder and an argument that Kalshi’sbinary event contracts are closer to gambling than to investing.Gambling Concerns MayShadow Kalshi and Negreanu PartnershipThe tie-upcomes as Kalshi faces mounting scrutiny from state regulators who argue theplatform operates more like a gambling venue than a legitimate financialmarket. Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea JoyCampbell recently sued Kalshi for alleged illegal gambling operations,with the state's Gaming Commission pushing for an injunction to removesports contracts from the market.Criticspoint to the selection of a poker professional as brand ambassadoras potentially reinforcing concerns about Kalshi's resemblance to gamblingoperations. While Kalshi insists it provides "legitimatehedging" similar to commodity futures markets, the platform'spublic messaging regularly invites customers to "bet" onoutcomes.A fewmonths ago, inthe article “Still Investing or Already Binary Options Gambling,” I lookedfor an answer to the question of what Kalshi’s products really are, as they hadalready sparked some controversy at the start of trading.Negreanu,however, expressed enthusiasm for the platform's capabilities, tweeting:"On Kalshi, you can trade on everything from Football to Politics to PopCulture — it's a game-changer and available in all 50 States!".Excited to announce my partnership with @Kalshi To celebrate, I’m staking one of YOU into the Super Main Event at @WSOP ParadiseOn Kalshi, you can trade on everything from Football to Politics to Pop Culture — it’s a game-changer and available in all 50 States!Details here: pic.twitter.com/hjwDbLzikd— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) September 16, 2025Billion-Dollar BattleIntensifiesThepartnership announcement comes just a day after Kalshi's key partner Robinhoodfiled federal lawsuits seekingto block Massachusetts regulators from enforcing state gambling laws.According to court documents, roughly $1 billion worth of Kalshi contractstraded through Robinhood's platform during the second quarter alone."Sportswagering comes with significant risk of addiction and financial loss and mustbe strictly regulated to mitigate public health consequences," Campbellstated when announcing the state's lawsuit against Kalshi.Pennsylvania'sGaming Control Board has argued that sports prediction markets operating underfederal oversight directly challenge states' authority to regulate gamblingwithin their borders. In August,Kalshi and Robinhood Markets facedanother federal lawsuit filed by the Ho-Chunk Nation, a federallyrecognized tribal nation in Wisconsin that operates several gaming facilitiesunder a state compact permitting sports betting on tribal lands.Join IG, CMC, and Robinhood in London’s leading trading industry event!Star Power MeetsMarket VolatilityNegreanu'sinvolvement includes staking a fan into the WSOP Paradise Super MainEvent. The Canadian-born player, who moved to Las Vegas in his early twentiesafter initially failing as a professional, eventually became the youngestWSOP champion in 1998 at age 23.Kalshi hasprocessed over $1 billion in trades on 3.4 million sports propositionssince launching sports markets, despite earlier court arguments that suchcontracts constituted prohibited "gaming" under federal rules. The CommodityFutures Trading Commission (CFTC) has yet to weigh in on the platform's currentoperations, having canceled a planned public roundtable on predictionmarkets in April.Thecompany currently serves roughly two million users nationwide,though regulatory challenges continue mounting in key stateswhere officials maintain that sports event contracts mirrortraditional sports betting without proper licensing or taxation.This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.