Kalshi Notches Legal Win in Fight With Nevada

A federal judge has handed the prediction market Kalshi a significant victory in a case over a cease-and-desist order from the state of Nevada about its right to offer betting on sports and politics events. 

Kalshi defeated the Biden-era Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in federal court last year for the right to offer betting on political events such as the presidential election, and has pushed into sports with markets on the Super Bowl, March Madness, and more. Kalshi also partnered with Robinhood on March Madness prediction markets.

Six states—Nevada, New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland, Ohio, and Montana—have since issued cease-and-desist orders to Kalshi, Robinhood, and Crypto.com, all of which have offered sports markets. 

Kalshi responded to the onslaught of orders by suing Nevada and New Jersey in federal court. 

U.S. District Court Judge Andrew P. Gordon issued a minute order Tuesday that granted, in part, Kalshi’s motion for a temporary retraining order and preliminary injunction. 

The judge also denied the Nevada Gaming Commission’s counterclaims, which sought an immediate temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that would have prohibited Kalshi from continuing to offer sports event contracts in Nevada.

A written ruling with more detail will come later, but the decision means Kalshi can continue operating its sports event contracts in Nevada while the case gets litigated—at least for now.

“Today, the Federal Court in Nevada granted Kalshi’s preliminary injunction and blocked the State from trying to prevent Kalshi from offering prediction markets,” a Kalshi spokesperson told Front Office Sports. “We are grateful for the court’s careful attention to this matter and recognition of Kalshi’s status as a CFTC-regulated exchange. On to the next step.”

The Nevada Gaming Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.