U.S. Court Rules Kalshi Cannot Block Nevada’s Sports Betting Regulation

ChainCatcher report, according to The Block, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Kalshi, a prediction market platform, failed to demonstrate that federal regulations take precedence over Nevada’s regulatory authority over sports betting, and therefore Kalshi is not entitled to an injunction. Previously, the Nevada Gaming Control Board had issued a cease-and-desist order to Kalshi, demanding it halt trading contracts related to elections and sporting events within the state and threatening to initiate criminal or civil proceedings. In response, Kalshi sued the Gaming Control Board and the state, seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent Nevada from regulating its trading of sports and election-related contracts. The district court initially granted the injunction, but later vacated it following a ruling involving Crypto.com. However, the appellate court stated on Friday: “We conclude that Kalshi failed to show that the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) is likely to preempt state gambling laws as applied to its sports event contracts, and we further find that the district court did not abuse its discretion in vacating the injunction.” The panel added: “The court finds that the Commodity Exchange Act is unlikely to preempt Nevada’s gambling laws as applied to Kalshi’s sports event contracts.”