Kalshi stays live with sports markets in Nevada after winning injunction
US District Court Judge Anthony Gordon provided a detailed ruling that expanded on his decision of Tuesday night (8 April) to grant Kalshi’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the Nevada Gaming Control Board regarding the offering and trading of sporting-event contracts.
“Kalshi has shown a likelihood of success on the merits,” wrote Judge Gordon in the 17-page ruling. “Conversely, the defendants have not shown a likelihood of success on their countermotion for injunctive relief, so I deny their motion.”
It was another legal victory for Kalshi, following a key win in the US Court of Appeals last October over the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). That ruling allowed it to offer election contracts in the run-up to the 2024 US presidential election. The CFTC has appealed that decision to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and a verdict could have an impact on this case.
Gordon’s Tuesday night decision marked the first in a new series of legal filings for Kalshi as the CFTC-registered exchange looks to bat away cease-and-desist orders from multiple state gaming regulatory agencies. Kalshi filed a similar lawsuit in late March in the US District Court in New Jersey against the state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement. The DGE has an 18 April deadline to file its brief and Kalshi’s reply is due five days later before the sides meet in a 30 April hearing.
Kalshi has also received cease-and-desist letters from gaming regulatory agencies in Illinois, Maryland, Montana and Ohio, but has yet to pursue any legal filings in those states.
What does the ruling mean?
At the very top level, Gordon’s ruling means Kalshi can continue to offer sports-related event contracts in the state of Nevada while the case proceeds. And further it means that the first federal judge to weigh the company’s arguments – that it is federally regulated and therefore not subject to state-level licensing requirements for traditional sportsbooks – was receptive to the arguments.
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