- Kalshi and Everfi will fund a $2.4 million, three-year digital literacy and STEM career program in New York public schools.
- Attorney General Letitia James’s July 31 petition asks a court to bar unlicensed operation and impose penalties of three times Kalshi’s gains.
- The petition says sports wagering taxes primarily fund public schools, and licensed mobile operators paid more than $1 billion in 2024.
- The program’s $2.4 million total is less than one-quarter of 1% of those 2024 taxes.
NEW YORK – Kalshi and the digital learning company Everfi will fund a $2.4 million, three-year digital literacy and STEM career readiness program in NY public schools, the New York Post reported Tuesday. The report comes as Attorney General Letitia James pursues a July 31 petition that accuses Kalshi of operating an unlicensed gambling business in New York.
What The Program Teaches
According to the Post, the program teaches students healthy habits around artificial intelligence, social media and other digital platforms. A second track covers STEM careers, with coursework on software development, data science, advanced manufacturing and healthcare.
Elizabeth Figoni, an Everfi senior vice president, told the Post the company’s curricula are used in more than 100 public schools across New York. Tarek Mansour, Kalshi’s chief executive, told the Post in a statement, “Our hope is simple: to open the door for the next generation of innovators.”
What The Attorney General Wants
The state limits mobile wagering to operators licensed by the New York State Gaming Commission, the framework behind legal New York sports betting. KalshiEX LLC, headquartered in New York City, holds no commission license of any kind, the petition says.
In the July 31 filing, James asked the New York County Supreme Court for a permanent order keeping Kalshi out of the gambling business until it is licensed. The petition also seeks restitution for customers, a penalty equal to triple Kalshi’s gains, plus $100,000 for every sports wager the company offered without authorization.
In announcing the case, James said, “No matter what they call themselves, prediction markets like Kalshi are gambling platforms, plain and simple.”
The School Funding Math
Licensed operators in New York’s legal sports betting market paid more than $1 billion in state taxes in 2024 on about $2 billion in gross gaming revenue, according to the petition. Licensed mobile operators hand over about 51% of gross revenue in tax, the petition says.
Public schools are the main destination for that money, the petition says, with the rest going to youth sports programs and to treatment and education for problem gamblers. The attorney general’s office said in its announcement that an unlicensed Kalshi escapes the tax obligations licensed casinos and mobile sportsbooks carry.
Kalshi’s $2.4 million over three years, or $800,000 a year, is less than one-quarter of 1% of the 2024 tax total.
Kalshi announced Oct. 5 a $3 million, multiyear gift to Housing Works for its East Harlem health center, which Housing Works president Matthew Bernardo called the largest charitable gift in the group’s history. The school program is the second multimillion-dollar New York commitment tied to Kalshi in about four weeks.
Federal Court Fight
Kalshi’s suit against the Gaming Commission, filed Oct. 27, 2025, three days after the commission told it to stop, argues the Commodity Futures Trading Commission alone has authority over its sports-event contracts.
Kalshi lost its bid for a preliminary injunction on July 7, when U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres held that the Commodity Exchange Act leaves New York free to apply its gambling laws to the contracts. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has the appeal under docket No. 26-1835.
Kalshi removed the petition to federal court, and the state has moved to send it back, CoinDesk reported in August.
In August the CFTC invoked its emergency powers to keep Kalshi’s New York operation open.
