Overview
- Kalshi won a 2-1 appeals panel ruling Monday that keeps a preliminary injunction in place, blocking New Jersey from civil or criminal enforcement while the case continues.
- The majority held that Kalshi’s sports event contracts qualify as swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act, meaning a regulated trade that pays out based on an event’s result, so only the CFTC can supervise them.
- Judge Jane Roth dissented, arguing the contracts are sports gambling that looks like sportsbook wagers, and New Jersey’s attorney general said the state is evaluating next steps such as seeking rehearing.
- Courts remain split, as a Nevada judge recently extended a ban on Kalshi after the Ninth Circuit declined to halt that state’s case, creating a patchwork of where the platform can operate.
- The CFTC, joined by the Justice Department, sued Arizona, Connecticut, and Illinois last week to stop state crackdowns, a push that could steer the dispute toward the Supreme Court or prompt action in Congress.