The real-time flight tracker FlightAware is suing the prediction market Kalshi for allegedly using its data to host gambling markets.
Kalshi started letting users bet on the number of flights canceled in the U.S., or at a given airport, about a month ago. According to FlightAware, Kalshi used FlightAware’s data and name without authorization, displaying FlightAware’s branding and information even after the flight tracker demanded that Kalshi stop.
“Kalshi never informed FlightAware that it would rely on FlightAware’s data to determine the outcome of these betting markets,” the lawsuit says. FlightAware maintains that it did not know about Kalshi’s flight cancellation bets until the media began reporting on these new prediction markets.
TechCrunch has reached out to Kalshi for comment.
Kalshi and similar platforms, like Polymarket, allow users to place bets on various future events, ranging from the results of a political election to the number of albums a musician will sell in a given week.
These markets have already shown their extensive potential to be manipulated by bettors, even though their rules prohibit insider trading. In one high-profile instance, a Polymarket user suspiciously bet $32,000 that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would be removed from power by the end of January — just hours later, the U.S. military captured Maduro, earning that user a $400,000 payout. A White House teleprompter operator allegedly made over $100,000 on Kalshi by using his advanced knowledge of the president’s speeches to place bets.
FlightAware argues that these gambling markets could similarly be abused to interfere with flights, posing a safety risk for travelers and airport employees.
FlightAware is seeking a jury trial and has not specified how much money it seeks in damages.
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