Attorney General Ford Announces Victory Over Kalshi, Protecting Nevada’s Right to Regulate Sports Betting

Carson City, NV – Today, Attorney General Aaron D. Ford announced that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Nevada’s gaming laws apply to sports-event contracts offered by Kalshi, Crypto.com and Robinhood. In a 3-0 decision, the court rejected Kalshi’s argument that claimed the company was a “designated contract market” rather than a sports betting platform and that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had regulatory authority over Nevada’s gaming laws.

“Today’s ruling is a major victory for Nevada and our longstanding authority to regulate gaming in our state,” said Attorney General Ford. “Kalshi sought to sidestep Nevada’s gaming laws by claiming its sports wagering products were federally regulated financial instruments beyond the reach of state regulators. The Ninth Circuit rejected that argument and made clear what we have maintained from the beginning: sports betting does not become something else simply because a company calls it an ‘event contract.’ Nevada has built the gold standard for gaming regulation, and we will not allow companies to circumvent those protections or operate outside the law. Our office is proud to have defended Nevada’s authority, and we will continue working to protect Nevadans and the integrity of our gaming industry.”

The state considers sports event contracts to constitute wagering activity under state statute and, as such, entities offering these contracts must be licensed in Nevada. Nevada is a national leader in gaming regulation, and the state’s comprehensive licensing, enforcement and consumer-protection systems are designed specifically to address the risks associated with sports betting.

Attorney General Ford has been at the forefront of the fight against online prediction markets and their attempts to circumvent relevant state law, co-leading multiple amicus curiae briefs before the United States Courts of Appeal for the Third Circuit, Fourth Circuit, and Sixth Circuit over the past year.

Further, in June, under Attorney General Ford’s leadership, Nevada became the first state to stop online prediction markets from operating in state, obtaining injunctions against Polymarket, Kalshi and Coinbase. When caught violating its injunction by the Gaming Control Board and after being threatened with contempt of court, Kalshi agreed to implement a third-party geofencing solution to identify and prevent anyone within Nevada’s borders from entering into prohibited contracts on Kalshi’s platform.

Prediction markets have long claimed that federal financial regulations enacted after the 2008 financial crisis preempt state gambling laws. Attorney General Ford and others have pointed out that Congress did not clearly or intentionally strip states of their traditional power to regulate gambling, including sports betting, and that such authority remains squarely within state police powers.

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