Odaily Planet Daily reports: The U.S. CFTC has filed a lawsuit against Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Attorney General Raúl Torrez, and other officials in the U.S. District Court for New Mexico, seeking to prevent the state from applying its gambling regulations to prediction market platforms.
Previously, New Mexico sued Kalshi, alleging that it offered sports betting to residents within the state without proper authorization and allowed users under the state’s legal gambling age of 21 to participate. The New Mexico Attorney General stated that legal gambling in the state can only operate under tribal-state gaming compacts or within a strictly regulated state framework.
The CFTC, however, contends that platforms like Kalshi offer federally regulated derivative contracts, not gambling products under state law. CFTC Chair Michael Selig stated that New Mexico is attempting to impose state gambling laws on federal derivative exchanges under the CFTC’s exclusive jurisdiction.
Over the past several months, the CFTC has filed lawsuits against multiple states—including Wisconsin, Illinois, Arizona, Connecticut, and New York—to assert its regulatory authority over sports prediction markets. This week, the agency also proposed broader rules for prediction markets, generally permitting sports-related contracts, signaling an escalating conflict between federal and state authorities over the boundaries of prediction markets and sports betting.