U.S. Court Rules Nevada Can Regulate Kalshi's Sports Contracts as Gambling

ME News reports that on August 29 (UTC+8), the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Nevada has the authority to regulate Kalshi’s sports event contracts as gambling, rejecting Kalshi’s core argument that its activities are exclusively regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and immune from state intervention. The court determined that the relevant sports event contracts are fundamentally sports betting and do not qualify as “swaps” subject solely to federal oversight. This ruling directly conflicts with a decision in April by another federal appeals court that supported Kalshi and limited New Jersey’s regulatory authority, creating a clear “circuit split” among U.S. federal courts. As a result, the question of regulatory jurisdiction over prediction markets may ultimately require resolution by the U.S. Supreme Court. Kalshi stated it will seek further review, emphasizing that federal law still restricts states from regulating federally licensed exchanges. Meanwhile, Nevada regulators stated that the ruling confirms sports contracts in prediction markets are inherently gambling and therefore subject to state-level regulation. (Source: BlockBeats)