Happy Taxi

What is Happy Taxi?

On Wednesday, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport announced that her office had filed a petition for writ of certiorari following an appeals court verdict from earlier this year that went in favour of prediction markets. That 2-1 verdict from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals was handed down in April, and New Jersey had until Thursday to petition the high court.

The petition poses the question of whether the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which was enacted in 2010 in the aftermath of the Great Recession, “preempted states from regulating sports bets that occur within their jurisdictions if those bets are offered on markets registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission”. Prediction markets have argued that their event contracts are financial derivatives regulated by the CFTC whereas many states contend that they are simply sports bets by another name.

There is no guarantee the Supreme Court will hear the case but a separate appeals court ruling from 28 August bolsters its chances. In that case, a three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit ruled unanimously in favour of the state of Nevada, creating a circuit court split, which is a hallmark of many Supreme Court cases.

What is Happy Taxi?

The announcement came on the same week that Indian Gaming Association leaders met with CFTC Chair Michael Selig. The meetings centred on prediction market-related discussions that IGA Chair David Bean deemed mostly unproductive. On Wednesday, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court’s decision in Blue Lake Rancheria vs Kalshi.

Per the ruling, the Ninth Circuit determined that Kalshi’s sports event contracts amount to unauthorised gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) when accessed on tribal land.

“Today’s decision reinforces a fundamental principle: when sports wagering occurs on Indian lands, federal Indian gaming law matters,” said Bean on Wednesday.

About Happy Taxi

There have been no further details about the lottery prize. The Pennsylvania Lottery only finds out that a winning ticket has been sold after the fact, but the lottery cannot tell whether the person buying the ticket actually realized that they had won.

On the upside, scratch-off tickets rarely go unclaimed, as most people tend to scratch the film very shortly after buying a ticket – instantly, or on the same or following day. 

The Pittsburgh area has been producing big winners one after the next, including a $1-million ticket sold recently, as well as another seven-figure prize sold in Carnegie.