Kalshi, the CFTC-registered prediction market platform, just got told “no” by a federal judge in New York. The court denied the company’s request for a preliminary injunction that would have blocked the state from enforcing its gambling laws against the platform’s event contracts.
The ruling in KalshiEX LLC v. Williams adds another loss to a growing patchwork of conflicting federal court decisions about whether prediction markets like Kalshi are federally regulated financial products or state-level gambling operations.
A tale of two courtrooms (and then some)
On the win side, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a preliminary injunction in Kalshi’s favor in New Jersey on April 6, 2026. That court determined the platform’s sports event contracts qualify as swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act.
On the loss side, courts in Ohio denied Kalshi a preliminary injunction in March 2026. Maryland did the same back in August 2025. And now New York has joined the denial column.
