An Upper East Side bar is hedging a free-drinks promotion on a prediction market. The exchange calls it a milestone. The algebra calls it a 37%-off sale with extra steps. Kalshi thinks this is what society wants from it.
The pitch landed in my inbox with the breathless tone reserved for genuine firsts. The Jeffrey, a bar on the Upper East Side, will comp every tab on Wednesday night if the Knicks win Game 1 of the Finals. To protect itself against a Knicks victory — and the resulting wall of unpaid bar tabs — the bar is buying contracts on Kalshi that pay off precisely when the Knicks win. Kalshi is thrilled. This, we are told, is the first small business in history to hedge event risk on a prediction market, and surely the first of many.
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