A Netflix documentary trailer on prediction markets sparked an online uproar this week over footage appearing to show a Kalshi trade on the World Cup being made in Nevada, despite the platform being barred from offering sports markets in the state under court order.
But the image critics seized on—a $5,000 bet on Spain to win the tournament—was placed in 2025, before the court ruling that prohibited Kalshi from offering sports-event contracts in the state, according to both Kalshi and Netflix.
Roughly 29 seconds into the trailer, a phone screen is shown with the Kalshi platform on it, and a person’s voice says they bet $5,000 on Spain to win the World Cup. The brief moment caused controversy, because the video was filmed in Nevada on July 19, 2026, while Kalshi has been prohibited from offering sports-event contracts in the state since March as it fights a lawsuit brought against it by the state’s gaming regulator (Polymarket is also barred from offering sports markets in the state under a court order originally issued in January as part of a separate suit also brought by the Nevada Gaming Control Board).
CNN reporter Marshall Cohen questioned “where and when” the trades were made. IP attorney Ariel Givner asked “Netflix legal whatchu guys doin???” Dustin Gouker, who writes “The Closing Line” substack, noted that “we have only had a trailer live for a few hours and there is already controversy.”
