Minnesota became the first state in the country to ban prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket on Monday in a bill signed by Gov. Tim Walz. The law is supposed to take effect Aug. 1, but it’s unclear whether that will happen on time, if at all. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in federal court to stop Minnesota from implementing the ban. The new law, passed with bipartisan support in Minnesota, would make it a crime to advertise or host a betting platform not sanctioned by the state. As NPR notes, Minnesota has tribal gaming in the state, but online gambling and sports betting are already banned. Minnesota state legislator Emma Greenman, a Democrat, introduced the bill and told NPR that, “We as a state should decide how best and what regulations we think should attach to gambling, to protect public safety, to protect our kids.”
Five other states that have tried to regulate prediction markets have also been sued by the CFTC, an agency that argues it’s the federal government’s job to oversee this form of gambling. The platforms don’t like to call it gambling, but that’s what most people call it when they place wagers on future events, whether it’s who might win a war or the outcome of a football game.
