SEATTLE — A Washington state man who lost more than $308,000 betting on sports through the prediction market Kalshi is suing the company to recover his losses and more, arguing that its sports contracts amounted to illegal online gambling under state law.

Scott Bright, a resident of Bellevue, filed the lawsuit on Sept. 24 in King County Superior Court, according to Ars Technica, which first reported on the case. He is seeking more than $580,000, nearly double his net losses.

Kalshi has asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that Bright was not gambling at all but trading federally regulated financial contracts.

The case is one of the first to test whether individual customers, not just state governments, can use gambling laws to force prediction markets to repay losses.

Bright's lawsuit centers on Washington's long-standing ban on internet gambling. The state has prohibited online gambling since 2006, the complaint says, and older state law allows anyone who loses money at illegal gambling to recover it from the operator that ran the game.

The complaint also argues that Bright placed his bets at a time when Washington's attorney general had already sued Kalshi, alleging the same thing.

According to the lawsuit, Bright transferred $315,353.94 to Kalshi between June 17 and Aug. 14, 2026, through 253 separate debits from his checking account. He bet on events including professional baseball games and tennis matches, and apparently put his winnings back into new bets.

The complaint says........

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