No one thought of being self-excluded from commodities trading…until now. But let me explain what self-exclusion is.
Self-exclusion from gambling
It’s a term that applies to problem gamblers who ask the state to voluntarily self-exclude them from casinos. There are technologies, such as facial recognition, that can flag any attempt by a self-excluded person to enter a casino. And of course there are other ways to identify people and keep them out of casinos. Or out of the online versions of casinos.
Because gambling is regulated by states and/or Indian tribes, these self-exclusion lists are usually maintained at that level.
And they work for gambling. Take the story of “Thomas” (last name not given) who developed a problem with DraftKings and FanDuel.
“I could have ten drinks one night and then be fine with not drinking again for a year,” said Thomas, 35, who asked to be identified by his middle name fearing his problem gambling history could affect his career. “But sports gambling was different. It really got me.”
Eventually Thomas was tens of thousands of dollars in debt and declared bankruptcy. That prompted him to place himself on a self-exclusion list.
And all was fine…for a while.
Attempted self-exclusion from commodities futures trading
“Then one day, about two years later, I’m scrolling on Instagram and I came across an ad for Kalshi,” said Thomas. “I was bored and thought this could be fun…”
Well, Thomas fell into the same old habits again…with one big difference. Because Thomas was not gambling, but instead trading in commodity futures, the sites “do not follow state-mandated protections for people with gambling addictions who are most vulnerable to relapsing.”
Because while it is theoretically possible for someone to become addicted to trading hog futures, it’s fairly unlikely.
And the CFTC isn’t going to force the companies it regulates to perform self-exclusion. When Thomas tried to self-exclude from Kalshi, the company sent him a weakly worded message.
An automated response from Kalshi noted that “self-exclusion is a responsible trading safeguard designed to be irreversible.” It offered other solutions: “Three different responsible risk-management actions can be taken: trading break, voluntary opt-out, and a personalized funding cap.”
Thomas insisted he wanted to be banned from the app. Two days later, he also made three separate requests to Kalshi over email for his account to be permanently closed, correspondence he shared with NPR show.
Eventually Kalshi relented, but it was a hard fight. A fight in which casinos regulated by Nevada and other gaming authorities would not engage.
And so far the CFTC has exhibited no interest in mandating self-exclusion, and no respect for the need to do so. And why would they?
