- Kalshi filed a preemptive federal lawsuit against the New York State Gaming Commission after receiving a cease-and-desist letter regarding its sports-event contracts.
- The move comes just weeks after rival Crypto.com lost a similar case in Nevada, signaling a shifting legal landscape and raising the stakes for the industry.
Event-contract platform Kalshi has filed a federal lawsuit against the New York State Gaming Commission, challenging a state order that the company halt its operations involving sports-event contracts. The complaint was filed Monday, following a cease-and-desist letter issued by New York regulators on October 24.
Kalshi’s argument centers on the principle of federal preemption. The company asserts that its contracts fall under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)’s jurisdiction and therefore are not subject to state-level gambling restrictions.
Legal filings reviewed by ChainStreet show that the company is seeking declaratory relief confirming that its event contracts are lawfully offered under federal oversight.
A Strategic Kalshi Filing in Federal Court
By filing first in federal court, Kalshi’s attorneys aim to have the issue considered as a matter of federal regulatory authority, rather than a question of state gambling law.
“In five out of six cases, Kalshi took the initiative and sued first,” said Daniel Wallach, a gaming law specialist at Wallach Legal LLC. “That allows them to reach federal court and frame the issue around federal jurisdiction, not the legality of the contracts themselves.”
Had New York filed first, the case likely would have proceeded in state court and focused on whether the event contracts meet the state’s definition of gambling.
A Shifting Legal Landscape
Kalshi has previously obtained preliminary injunctions in New Jersey and Nevada, allowing it to continue operating while those cases proceed. However, the broader legal environment is becoming more complex.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Andrew P. Gordon in Nevada denied a similar injunction to Crypto.com, which operates a competing event-contract platform. In that case, the court found that Congress did not intend the CFTC’s authority over swaps to extend to the outcomes of sporting events.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board subsequently ordered Crypto.com to geofence the state by November 3 and close all open sports-event positions for residents.
Legal analysts note that while prior cases favored Kalshi, the recent Nevada ruling could influence how other jurisdictions interpret federal oversight of event-based contracts.
Potential Expansion of State Challenges
Following the Nevada decision, legal experts anticipate that other states may revisit their stance on event-based trading. Wallach said states including Arizona and Illinois are likely to examine whether these platforms comply with existing gambling and derivatives laws.
“These lawsuits will determine which authority governs prediction markets,” Wallach said. “The outcome could clarify whether the CFTC or individual states set the boundaries for these products.”
Chain Street’s Take on Latest Kalshi Move
Kalshi’s federal filing against New York is a pivotal test of regulatory boundaries. The case could determine whether prediction markets are treated as federally regulated derivatives or as state-controlled gambling products. Its outcome will likely influence how both financial and crypto-based platforms structure similar products across the United States.
