This had been in the works or Washington betting for quite some time, and now things have been moved over the line. In case you missed it, Washington state had been working in recent months to make sure prediction markets would be halted, as online sports betting is not legalized unless at an authorized casino, and people were tired of this loophole being worked through. Well, a Seattle judge officially brought an end to Kalshi sports betting in Washington, which is now being celebrated.

According to a press release, Kalshi was informed that the majority of its betting options would no longer be provided to Washington residents. In particular, the following is now off the table for local citizens: sports, elections, politics, entertainment, culture, tech and science, or mentions in Washington, as stated in the release. This of course makes up the majority of the offerings for Kalshi, which will really impact things moving forward.

“Kalshi has gotten rich promoting wagers on sports, elections, natural disasters, events related to the Iran War, and more. Under this order, Kalshi is banned from offering wagers on most of those topics in Washington,” Attorney General Nick Brown said on the official website. “As this case moves forward, we will continue to enforce Washington law and hold Kalshi accountable for misleading consumers.”

This is how you drop the hammer on things. As things stand, online sports betting is only permitted on tribal casinos. In-person betting is a full go, with several spots located all over the state. However, with these prediction markets allowing for people to place bets on future outcomes, it kind of messed things up. This new change has opened plenty of eyes, though, and it has taken one betting platform away from people. In this case, it feels like a good thing.

The Kalshi ban comes before the general election in Washington in November

A major positive from this too is that the Kalshi ban comes before the general election in Washington in November. There had been plenty of concern that people would be able to bet on the outcomes of certain elections this fall, but that's no longer going to be an option through the prediction markets. Time and time again we have seen voting being impacted by betting.

An example of that would be if people place bets on a certain candidate, and then only bet on him to improve their odds of winning a bet. If you get enough people to do that, it could truly have a big role in the outcome of voting and an election, which is something officials are trying to avoid at all costs moving forward, which is totally understandable.

With Washington's elections coming on Nov. 3, it would make sense that the Seattle Judge has made this decision at this time, which the Attorney General is of course behind. Down the road, we could see online sports betting widespread across Washington state, but for now, that's not the case - and Kalshi being off the table will prevent voting issues too.

Mariners betting continues to be on the rise in Washington

Despite things changing in a big way due to the Kalshi update, it's safe to say that Mariners betting continues to be on the rise in Washington, and things are only going to keep getting stronger. That's because despite this team going through some rough periods, the Mariners are still in a spot to push for a trip to the postseason.

As we all know, MLB betting reaches a new level in September, as teams want to close out the regular season strong to try and sneak in. For the Mariners, things are looking tough, but Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez and others are ready to keep fighting. As of this writing, Seattle is only three games back in the AL West standings, and also three games out of a Wild Card spot.

This is something people in Washington are following closely, and betting on. Last year, the Mariners won the AL West for the first time since 2001, while also making it to the ALCS. A heartbreaking loss in Game 7 to the Blue Jays was posted, but those bad memories could be wiped away soon if Seattle can make some history and reach the World Series for the first time. Only time will tell if that happens or not, but people will be ready to bet on a potential trip to the playoffs, no doubt.