On April 3, a Nevada judge extended a court order that prevents prediction-market operator Kalshi from offering event-based contracts to residents of the state without first obtaining a gaming license.
Judge Jason Woodbury, concluding a hearing in Carson City, said he would put in place a preliminary injunction requested by the Nevada Gaming Control Board that bars Kalshi from selling contracts tied to sports, elections and entertainment events in Nevada unless the company holds a state gambling license.
Kalshi, which is based in New York, has argued through counsel that the contracts it lists on its platform are "swaps" that fall exclusively under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The CFTC has taken a similar stance in related litigation, asserting federal oversight of such agreements.
Woodbury rejected that framing for the purposes of Nevada law. The judge drew a direct comparison between placing a bet through a state-licensed gaming operator and trading an event contract on Kalshi. "No matter how you slice it, that conduct is indistinguishable," he said, and added: "So I find based on the arguments that have been presented that it is a gaming activity that is prohibited for any non-licensee to engage in."
The ruling extends a 14-day temporary restraining order the court issued on March 20. That earlier order had already barred Kalshi from offering sports, election and entertainment-related contracts through April 17; the extension provides the court and the parties additional time to finalize the terms of a longer-lasting injunction.
Kalshi did not immediately respond to a request for comment following the hearing.
Nevada is, as of the court action, the only state to have obtained a court-enforced ban preventing Kalshi from operating in this way within its borders. The dispute in Nevada is part of a larger, intensifying legal contest over whether states or federal regulators have the authority to police prediction-market platforms.
In parallel litigation developments, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued three states to challenge their ability to regulate companies that operate prediction markets similar to Kalshi. Among those states is Arizona, which last month became the first to pursue criminal charges against Kalshi alleging the operation of an illegal gambling business. Separately, an injunction issued by a Massachusetts judge blocking Kalshi from offering sports event contracts in that state is currently on hold while Kalshi appeals.
Companies such as Kalshi operate platforms where users trade "event contracts," enabling market participants to place financial bets on a wide range of outcomes including sporting events and elections. The current litigation tests competing claims about the nature of those contracts and which regulatory regime governs them.
Contextual note: The court's extension maintains existing state-level restrictions in Nevada while further proceedings determine whether a longer-term injunction will be issued.