NCPG Leadership Shake-Up Grows Amid Backlash Over $2M Kalshi Deal
Key Points
- NCPG says Maurer has resigned and will remain through October 16 while its board searches for a replacement; the organization has not publicly given a reason for her departure.
- The leadership change comes after NCPG accepted a $2 million, two-year commitment from Kalshi and created a new membership category covering financial trading and prediction markets.
- Regulators or problem gambling organizations in Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and Washington have ended ties with NCPG amid concerns surrounding the Kalshi relationship.
NCPG Begins Leadership Search Amid Kalshi Partnership Backlash
Heather Maurer is resigning as executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling less than nine months after taking over the national nonprofit, adding another leadership transition at a particularly unsettled moment for the organization.
NCPG Board President Derek Longmeier said in an emailed statement that Maurer will remain through October 16 as the organization conducts an immediate search for her replacement.
Longmeier said the council's programs and services would continue during the search and that NCPG would keep building its relationships with affiliates, members and other stakeholders.
Maurer officially started January 7 after NCPG selected her through what the organization described as a highly competitive search. At the time, Longmeier said her ability to build national partnerships would be central to strengthening the council's advocacy work and relationships across the gambling industry and public health sector.
Those relationships are now at the center of the problem her successor will inherit.
Kalshi Committed $2 Million to NCPG Prediction Market Initiative
NCPG announced in May that Kalshi would provide $2 million over two years to fund its Financial Trader Health and Safety Initiative.
The organization simultaneously created a Financial Services & Trading membership subcategory and made Kalshi its first member at the Platinum level. Kalshi also joined NCPG's Leadership Circle for major donors.
The initiative was designed to expand research, education, consumer resources and harm-prevention infrastructure for financial trading platforms and prediction markets.
Maurer said when the partnership was announced that “innovation and responsibility can and must evolve together,” while Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour acknowledged that prediction markets, like other financial trading products, carry risks.
The Deal Sparked Fractures Among NCPG Stakeholders
The arrangement quickly became contentious among organizations that view Kalshi's sports event contracts as gambling products operating outside state gaming systems.
Michigan's Gaming Control Board and the Ohio Casino Control Commission ended their NCPG memberships. The Nevada Council on Problem Gambling also separated from the national organization, although NCPG later disputed Nevada's characterization of when and why that affiliation ended.
The Evergreen Council on Problem Gambling, which had publicly raised concerns about the Kalshi arrangement in June, formally withdrew its national affiliation effective September 17.
That puts NCPG in an unusual position. Its Kalshi initiative was designed to bring harm-reduction practices into a rapidly growing product category, while some of the regulators and advocacy organizations it traditionally works alongside believe accepting money from Kalshi compromises that mission or creates the appearance of endorsement.
NCPG rejected that interpretation, repeatedly saying membership and financial support do not give donors control over its research, advocacy or policy positions.
NCPG Has Become More Explicit About Prediction Market Risks
As criticism of the partnership has grown, NCPG has sharpened its public position on prediction markets.
In a September 22 statement, Longmeier said NCPG believes prediction markets are “functionally gambling” regardless of their current legal classification and can expose consumers to many of the same harms associated with traditional gambling. He also reiterated that NCPG remains neutral on whether prediction markets should be legal.
The organization is now calling for protections including account transparency, customizable limits, self-exclusion options, prominent access to problem gambling resources, clear risk disclosures and a minimum participation age of 21.
The age recommendation creates a particularly visible point of disagreement with Kalshi. Kalshi currently allows customers to open accounts from age 18 and offers voluntary self-exclusion, funding caps and other responsible-trading controls.
Kalshi nevertheless remains part of NCPG. The council's current membership directory still lists the company as a Platinum organizational member, while its Leadership Circle page lists Kalshi among donors contributing at least $100,000 annually.
Why This Matters for Bettors
Most bettors will never deal with NCPG directly, but they have probably seen the protections it pushes for: deposit limits, self-exclusion tools, responsible gambling resources and ways to get help. Those guardrails matter most when betting stops being fun and someone needs a way to slow down or step away.
Prediction markets complicate that picture. Sports event contracts can feel a lot like bets, but the protections are not always the same. NCPG wants prediction market customers to be at least 21 and is pushing for stronger limits, clearer risk disclosures and self-exclusion protections. Kalshi currently allows users from age 18.
For someone making a few Sunday football trades, that can sound like policy noise. But when you want to cap your spending, take a break or leave a platform altogether, the type of product you are using can determine what tools are available. That is the practical side of this fight for bettors.
NCPG is also trying to help set those standards while taking significant funding from Kalshi. The organization says donors do not control its policy positions, and industry funding has long supported responsible gambling work. Still, several regulators and affiliates have walked away, while NCPG's own strategic review has surfaced concerns about funding, independence and transparency.
Whoever replaces Maurer inherits that tension. If NCPG can keep prediction market companies involved without losing the confidence of regulators and advocacy groups, it could help establish stronger, more consistent safeguards as sports event contracts grow. If that trust keeps eroding, bettors are more likely to be left navigating a patchwork of protections from one platform to another.
What Happens Next
Maurer is scheduled to remain executive director through October 16 while NCPG searches for a successor. The organization has not publicly announced an interim leader or a timetable for completing that search.
For now, the Kalshi relationship remains intact. Kalshi is still listed as both a Platinum member and Leadership Circle donor, and NCPG continues to promote the Financial Trader Health and Safety Initiative funded by the company's $2 million commitment.
NCPG's ongoing strategic review is also worth watching: the organization is already soliciting feedback on funding, independence, neutrality and its relationships with state affiliates, placing several of the issues exposed by the Kalshi dispute directly on its 2026 agenda.
Cole cut his teeth as a sportswriter in Texas, covering everything from Longhorns games to small-town Friday night lights. A lifelong bettor stuck with offshore books for over a decade thanks to Texas' slow path to legalization, he eventually found his way into the world of social sportsbooks - where he uncovered a fast-growing, community of bettors.
Today, he writes for the millions of Americans in states without legal books, helping them explore safe ways to bet without running afoul of the law.
As editor-in-chief, he aims to keep BettingScanner honest, human, and grounded in what bettors actually care about: fairness, fun, and finding your lane - even when the state won’t give you one.
