One of poker’s all-time greats is giving away a $10,000 seat into the 2026 World Series of Poker main event.
Daniel Negreanu will randomly select one person who deposits on Kalshi with his signup code to give the seat to. But the promotion comes as lawmakers’ doubts about Kalshi’s legality are at an all-time high.
Earlier this week, Negreanu announced the promotion in a video posted on his X account. The video shows the seven-time WSOP bracelet winner figuring out who to pick in this year’s Super Bowl. Negreanu is unsure which side to “trade,” so he calls different contacts in his phone for their opinion on the game.
He calls a wide-ranging cast of fictional characters that include a man portraying professional wrestler “Macho Man” Randy Savage, a mob boss in prison, an astronaut, and even a bird.
After admitting his phone contacts were no help, he explains the promotion. Any new deposit on Kalshi using his code is entered into a drawing for the seat.
I’m giving away a FREE $10K seat to the @WSOP Main Event.
Want it? Deposit on @Kalshi with code DNEGS and you’re entered. That’s all it takes.
In other news, I assembled the world’s worst advisory board to help me trade the Big Game… pic.twitter.com/KPTArGHxMR
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) January 26, 2026
Last fall, Kalshi inked Negreanu to an ambassadorship deal. The agreement made Negreanu the first gambling-related ambassador for the site. He also ran a similar promotion for the WSOP Paradise super man event.
Numerous States, Federal Lawmakers Question Kalshi’s Legality
At the start of January, the Tennessee Sports Wagering Council sent cease and desist letters to three prediction market platforms, including Kalshi. The letters ordered the operators to stop offering sports event contracts in the Volunteer State.
Tennessee joins a litany of other state gaming regulators to take action against Kalshi and other prediction markets. It joins Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Nevada Illinois, Ohio, Arizona, Montana, and Maryland.
Gaming regulators in those states believe the sports event contracts are a workaround for unlicensed sports betting. On the other hand, Kalshi officials believe that since the company is already regulated by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, they are not subject to state laws.
Last August, a judge in Maryland ruled that Kalshi should be licensed by the state to offer the sports contracts. However, Maryland agreed to delay enforcement until the appeals process is complete.
More recently, a judge in Massachusetts ruled against Kalshi as well. Regulators in other states, including Tennessee began pointing to the Massachusetts ruling in their own legal battles.
But federal lawmakers have gradually began to question Kalshi’s legitimacy. In September, a bipartisan group of lawmakers penned a letter to the CFTC, raising their concerns about sports contracts.
Now, they are questioning all markets. In the wake of an alleged insider winning $400,000 on Polymarket from a contract regarding Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s capture, lawmakers want answers about possible insider trading.
Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) wrote a letter to Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan, wanting to know about the platform’s safeguards against insider trading. Additionally, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) introduced a bill to ban public officials from trading event contracts related to government policy.
Do CFTC Regulations Prohibit Poker Contracts?
Just before the Negreanu signing, Kalshi partnered with the NFL on FOX broadcast. The partnership allowed Kalshi to use FOX as the source for outcomes on NFL-related markets. They also made a similar deal with CNN for political markets.
Since Negreanu is the face of GGPoker, the online poker site that owns the WSOP brand, it seemed like poker-related contracts would be in the pipeline.
But that hasn’t materialized. At least not yet. At the time of publishing, the only poker-related Kalshi contract is whether the 2026 WSOP main event will breach the 10,000-entry mark. Users combined to bet less than $2,000 on the contract thus far.
A vague statute in the CFTC regulations regarding event contracts could be the reason for a lack of poker options on Kalshi. According to statute 40.11(a)(1) of the CFTC regulations on event contracts, platforms are prohibited from offering contracts related “to, or references terrorism, assassination, war, gaming, or an activity that is unlawful under State or Federal Law.”
The “gaming” part of the regulations could prevent Kalshi from offering contracts on outcomes of poker tournaments.
If that’s the case, then Negreanu’s signing isn’t about an inroad to official GGPoker information. Instead, it means Kalshi believes Negreanu’s social media following, assumedly full of poker players and fans, are a large portion of their target demographic.
