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Two women have been arrested and charged with allegedly running an illegal gambling house in Sarasota.
Two women, 48-year-old Kelly A. Mallia and 62-year-old Valerie A. Mallia, were taken into custody by the Sarasota Sheriff’s Department on December 16. The arrest took place at the Paradise Arcade at 6030 N. Lockwood Ridge Road, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.
The operation took place after a search warrant was executed in collaboration with the Florida Gaming Control Commission. 81 slot machines were found at the arcade, which have now been seized by Commission agents, along with the cash inside them.
Image: Sarasota Sheriff Department
Next steps in the Sarasota investigation
The sheriff’s office also noted that the arcade had been served with a cease-and-desist letter earlier in the year. The women were charged with keeping a gambling house and owning or possessing slot machines. The first charge could result in up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, while the latter could result in 60 days in prison and fines of up to $10,000 per machine. Both women have been bonded out of the Sarasota County Jail.
“The slot machines are now securely stored as the investigation continues,” wrote the Sheriff’s department in the statement. “This operation follows a Cease-and-Desist letter issued earlier this year.
“SCSO and FGCC continue to shut down these illegal gambling establishments. If you have one, it would be a great time to close your business because you could be next!!”
There’s no word yet on when the next legal steps will take place. Such operations are far from uncommon in Florida, with authorities seizing more than 250 slot machines earlier this year and 147 machines just this month. Last month, the Florida Attorney General said publicly that he wants to increase the penalties faced by people involved in Illegal gambling operations.
Featured image: Google Maps
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A new filing from Kalshi to self-certify a contract suggests that the prediction market could be planning to offer bets on college athletes.
New filings submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) by Kalshi on Tuesday, December 16, include an application to self-certify contracts titled “Will enter/withdraw from the transfer portal in time period?” and “Will transfer to in ?”
Those filings state that Kalshi could offer those contracts from the end of Wednesday, December 17, onwards. However, it’s worth noting that self-certifying contracts doesn’t necessarily mean that markets will be put up at the date specified, or indeed at all.
In fact, Kalshi has said in a statement shared with Readwrite that there is no concrete plan to list those contracts, saying: “We certify markets all the time that we do not end up listing. We have no immediate plans to list these contracts.
“Like all markets on Kalshi, users with material nonpublic information would be prohibited from trading on potential transfer portal markets. We have in-house and third-party surveillance systems that monitor for suspicious activity and if necessary, we refer cases to the CFTC for enforcement.”
Kalshi and bets on college athletes
The filing appears to refer to the NCAA transfer portal, a database of all college athletes who intend to transfer from one university to another. The portal is open between January 2 and January 16, although players can make their intent to transfer known earlier.
Up to this point, Kalshi has largely avoided offering bets on individual college athletes, although there are plenty of contracts available related to college sports in general.
Looking at the sports betting market in general, traditional regulated sportsbooks cannot offer bets on transfer portal entrants or destinations. If Kalshi did go ahead with it, it would be a sign of the prediction market pushing further into the gray regulatory area that it has been criticized for.
Featured image: Pexels
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Congressman Abe Hamadeh has shared concerns about the partnership between Kalshi and CNN, highlighting “threats to market integrity, democratic stability, and American national security”.
Congressman Abe Hamadeh wrote a letter to Acting Chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Caroline D. Pham, outlining concerns centered around the recently announced partnership between Kalshi and CNN. Specifically, Congressman Hamadeh wrote that this partnership “poses direct and foreseeable threats to market integrity, democratic stability, and American national security” and described it as “not merely inappropriate; it is outright dangerous.”
“CNN would be uniquely positioned to shape public perception and news cycles around the very events Kalshi lists as tradable markets,” wrote Congressman Hamadeh. “These events would involve elections, war, foreign policy crises, and domestic instability. No other major media outlet has attempted such a partnership, and for good reason: it creates a built-in structural conflict of interest that allows an influential news organization or foreign adversaries to shape outcomes for financial or competitive advantage.
“I am not surprised that a media entity that has faced persistent concerns regarding accuracy, impartiality, and narrative framing would allow the potential for foreign governments, domestic political groups, or adversarial actors to escalate tensions, manipulate narratives, and pressure institutions in order to profit through Kalshi’s event-contract platform.”
Congressman Hamadeh cited Section 5c(c)(5)(C) of the Commodity Exchange Act, which requires the CFTC to prohibit contracts involving war, gaming, or anything contrary to public interest, such as markets that could be vulnerable to manipulation. He argues that the Kalshi–CNN partnership would violate that section, pointing to bets about “whether Palestinians in Gaza would suffer mass starvation,” and “when Israel will bomb Gaza, bomb the West Bank, or annex either?”
“The situation is chilling, and I have questions,” stated Congressman Hamadeh. “We need to know if the Commission is assessing this partnership to see if it is creating vulnerabilities for foreign or domestic actors to influence U.S politics, economics, or national security outcomes for financial profit.”
Kalshi responds to the claims
Kalshi has publicly responded to Congressman Hamadeh’s claims, writing on X: “With all due respect, you’re accusing Kalshi of things we don’t do. The markets you list (e.g. “Will Israel strike Gaza”) are on a competitor’s site, not Kalshi’s. And Kalshi rules prohibit CNN employees from trading on any contract where CNN would be a source of information.”

With all due respect, you’re accusing Kalshi of things we don’t do. The markets you list (e.g. “Will Israel strike Gaza”) are on a competitor’s site, not Kalshi’s. And Kalshi rules prohibit CNN employees from trading on any contract where CNN would be a source of information.
— Kalshi News (@KalshiNewsroom) December 17, 2025

Indeed, searching for ‘Israel’ on Kalshi brings up a host of related contracts, but none related to actual strikes. Instead, Kalshi’s markets include questions like “will the US halt military aid to Israel?”, and “who will be the next new Prime Minister of Israel?”
Congressman Hamadeh has given the Acting Chair 30 days to outline the Commission’s assessment and its intended actions regarding the Kalshi–CNN partnership.
Featured image: Flickr, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
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Four brands under the Flutter gambling arm will need to pay £2 million in fines after social responsibility failures were exposed.
The UK Gambling Commission has handed down a £2 million fine to four remote operators trading under Paddy Power and Betfair, owned by Flutter, as part of a settlement after an investigation exposed social responsibility failures relating to customer interaction. Those operators are PPB Entertainment Limited, PPB Counterparty Services Limited, Betfair Casino Limited, and TSE Malta LP.
Specifically, the Commission found that the operator’s systems were not sensitive enough to identify early indicators of harm. One example given is a customer depositing £12,000 across a 15-day period, another £25,000 in 25 days, and another a massive £86,00 across 16 days before any of them were interacted with.
Other red flags included intense activity spikes, with sessions just shy of eight hours where 300 bets amounting to £20,000 didn’t trigger any communication from the operators. Behavior like this should be picked up by operators as potential indicators for gambling-related harm, according to the Commission.
“This £2 million settlement reflects the seriousness of the failings identified and the importance of meeting social responsibility and customer interaction standards,” said John Pierce, Commission Director of Enforcement at the Commission. “Our compliance assessment in 2024 uncovered examples where interactions fell far short of what is required.
“These failings should never have occurred. While the licensees co-operated fully with the investigation, accepted the failings early, and implemented an action plan quickly, this immediate response is the minimum we expect from operators when serious shortcomings are identified.
“Operators must ensure systems to identify and address harm work effectively and at the right time. Over-reliance on automation and failure to intervene when clear harm indicators are present exposes consumers to unnecessary risk. Where we find failings, we will act decisively to protect players.”
This isn’t the first social responsibility failure for Paddy Power Betfair
This is the second time that Paddy Power Betfair has faced regulatory action for social responsibility failures, with the operator slapped with a £490,000 fine back in 2023 for marketing to vulnerable consumers.
“Flutter takes its safer gambling responsibilities incredibly seriously and we firmly believe that we lead the industry in player protection,” said a spokesperson for Flutter’s UK and Ireland arm. “Customer safety is our number one priority and there is no suggestion that any of the customers reviewed by the Gambling Commission experienced any harm.
“Our controls have evolved significantly and we recently introduced a next-generation customer safety platform, with the vast majority of checks now happening in real-time. As such, we are confident that the issues highlighted by the commission in its public statement would not be repeated today.”
Featured image: Wikimedia Commons – Wikimedia.org, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
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