--- title: "Kalshi Gamblers Furious After Company Refuses to Pay Out $54 Million on Ayatollah Khamenei’s Death" description: "The prediction market platform has refused to pay out on bets related to Ayatollah Khamenei due to a technicality." date: "2026-03-06" modified: "2026-03-06" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/kalshi-ayatollah-khamenei-iran" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Finance" - "Future Society" --- # Kalshi Gamblers Furious After Company Refuses to Pay Out $54 Million on Ayatollah Khamenei’s Death ![A large portrait of former Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, with a white beard, glasses, and a black turban, displayed on a wall. In front of the portrait, three men are standing and looking towards it, one of whom is wearing a white turban and traditional clothing. The setting appears to be indoors.]() *Morteza Nikoubazl / NurPhoto via Getty Images* When an Israeli-American business executive saw the green checkmarks glow next to his bets on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's ouster as supreme leader of Iran, he thought he had it made. His improbable $3,460 wager had suddenly ballooned into a payout of more than $63,000 after US and Israeli forces [assassinated the Ayatollah]() in an aerial strike. There was just one problem: the bet never paid out. That scenario, as described [by the *Washington Post*](), came as the prediction market platform Kalshi has refused to pay out a staggering sum of $54 million to users who bet Khamenei would be "out" as supreme leader last weekend. The company's rationale — decided after it had allowed the market on that particular wager to accrue millions of dollars — is that the Ayatollah's death didn't *really* count on his "ousting" as supreme leader, and that the platform doesn't allow bets "directly tied to death." "I was booking my trip to Courchevel," the executive joked to *WaPo*, alluding to an upscale ski resort in the Alps. "Then they changed the rules... and everybody got screwed." Even though the site reportedly reimbursed all bettors at even odds — meaning they got their money back — those who could've hit the jackpot took to the internet to vent their rage at the decision**.** "I'm so disgusted I'm honestly put off from Prediction Markets for the near future at least," [one trader raged]() without a hint of irony on X-formerly-Twitter. "You owe me $2,500+ and you owe many innocent, casual traders millions more." "@Kalshi I'll be steering people towards polymarkets," [another scathed](). "There's an inherent cost to taking the 'optical' moral high ground." In an interview with *WaPo*, Democratic party senator Chris Murphy called prediction markets like Kalshi "American commercial immorality on steroids." "Once events that involve good and evil simply become a financial product, I don't know how right and wrong matters any longer," he continued. "People shouldn't be rooting for people to die because they placed a bet." **More on Ayatollah Khamenei:** *[As War Descends on Iran, People Have Discovered Some Wild Old Posts on Ayatollah Khamenei’s Twitter Account]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()