On Friday, I came across a Threads post by Elizabeth Booker Houston, a DC-based lawyer, public health professional, political commentator, and stand-up comedian, known online as @bookersquared.
In the thread, she recounted how she’d posted a video earlier that week criticizing President Trump and warning her audience about prediction markets. She briefly namechecks both Polymarket and Kalshi, the two biggest prediction platforms.
Kalshi apparently saw the video and promptly sent Booker Houston a cease-and-desist letter, demanding clarification of its Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)- regulated status and its prohibition on certain markets. These factors distinguish Kalshi from Polymarket’s international site, which infamously offers controversial predictions related to war. Polymarket’s US-facing site, however, is also CFTC-compliant.
The cease-and-desist also asked that she not publish or disseminate “any further false or misleading statements concerning Kalshi.”
Booker Houston complied, posting the requested clarification in the post’s caption and in a new story. However, the latter appeared in a new video revealing unflattering and verifiable details about the company. Unfortunately for Kalshi, the new video saw more views than the one that prompted the C&D.
In the thread summarizing the whole situation, Booker wrote:
Elizabeth Booker Houston first gained national attention for a viral takedown of Ann Colter at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. Today, she commands an audience of more than a million followers across social platforms.
On Apr. 7, Booker Houston posted the initial video, which, as stated, criticized Trump and rang the alarm over prediction markets.
In the video, Booker Houston said, “I want to talk about prediction markets, because I don’t think people understand that people are betting on real-world tragedies.
And there’s a real possibility that our government is more compromised than everybody realizes. So if you don’t know what Polymarket or Kalshi are, they are prediction markets where you can bet on pretty much any damn thing.”
She closed by lamenting, “There is a real risk that people within the government who have the ability to send us to war or not, who have the ability to bomb people or not who have the ability to, quite literally, take lives, can potentially go on these platforms make bets And then make money.”
Fifteen hours later, she received the cease-and-desist.
On page two of Kalshi’s letter, the company listed a trio of demands, threatening legal action if they remained unaddressed.
Kalshi demanded:
Kalshi then threatened to “pursue all available remedies without further notice, including seeking injunctive relief, damages, and any other appropriate relief,” if Houston failed to comply.
Booker Houston complied.
First, she edited the caption of the original post, as Kalshi demanded. Then she uploaded a new video with the requested clarification and shared it on her stories. In the same video, Booker Houston included a quick-fire breakdown of Kalshi’s operations.
“They said, don’t tell anything else that’s untruthful or misleading about Kashi, so I want to give you guys the truth,” Booker Houston said before diving into the details.
So, Kalshi is CFTC-regulated. That’s the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and that’s currently led by Michael Selig. Now he’s appointed by Donald Trump. And before this, Michael used to work defending crypto companies when they would have violations for not following the regulatory requirements by the federal government. But now Trump administration is in charge of those requirements, so they can make whatever regulations that they want. And Kalshi is very tied with the Trump administration, because Don Jr. is even a strategic advisor to Kalshi. He tweeted all about it. It was all very exciting.”
She then summarized Kalshi’s various legal battles, and circled back, contrasting its ’no war and death markets’ claim against active markets.
I just want to make sure I got on here and gave the clarification, because you can’t bet on war or death or any of the things that I mentioned in that video on Kalshi’s website. There are currently markets up for whether the US and Iran have a nuclear deal or if the Trump administration deploys, you know, decides to go ahead and use martial law. But you can’t trade on war and death, and it’s not really betting. Again, they’re swaps, you know, silly me. But yeah, so they’re very closely tied with the Trump administration, and that’s what they actually do.”
Finally, Booker Houston closed with an invitation to Kalshi to collaborate on the clarification post.
“Kalshi asked that I respond within 24 hours in writing. I’ll do that,” she said. “But also, I sent you a collab request, Kalshi.”
Then, over the weekend, Booker Houston recapped the kerfuffle once more. In a video recorded outside the CFTC’s DC office, she again noted Kalshi’s (and Polymarket’s) political connections while reviewing the past days’ events.
She also questioned the just-surfaced news that the White House informed staffers weeks ago that prediction market trading using non-public information is a no-go. Booker Houston suggested the memo is simply the administration’s attempt to provide cover in response to the latest suspicion of insider trading tied to the Iran ceasefire announcement.
Whether this is the end of the tussle remains to be seen. In the meantime, it’s a safe bet that Booker Houston’s response was more than Kalshi expected.
Gambling Insider emailed Kalshi and Booker Houston for comment. Neither replied.
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