Kalshi Sports Contracts: Legal Standing & Timeline

by Chris Gerlacher

Updated on: June 10, 2025

Trade on Prediction Markets » Kalshi Sports Contracts: Legal Standing & Timeline

Kalshi is not one to shy away from legal battles. The CFTC-regulated commercial prediction market platform has opted to go to court to seek legal clarity regarding justification for its event contract offerings, including and especially those surrounding the expansion into elections and more recently, sports.

Kalshi began by suing its regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), over the CFTC’s decision to prohibit Kalshi’s congressional control contracts. The D.C. District Court ruled in Kalshi’s favor, but the CFTC appealed the decision. In May 2025, the CFTC dropped its appeal, clearing the legal challenge to Kalshi’s election contracts.

Kalshi has taken the lead once again in litigation against gambling regulators who want sports contracts regulated under state sports betting law instead of federal finance law. Read on for the latest updates in Kalshi vs. the states ongoing litigation and the full timeline leading up to now.

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But Kalshi didn’t stop at its early election contract victory. The prediction market company has followed Crypto.com into sports and has taken the lead once again in litigation against gambling regulators who want sports contracts regulated under state sports betting law instead of federal finance law.

Here are the timelines for the various phases of Kalshi’s legal challenges.

Timeline: Kalshi’s lead-up to suing the CFTC

Late 2021 – Kalshi begins a series of at least 36 meetings with the CFTC and members of Congress discussing political event contracts.

July 20, 2022 – Kalshi submits congressional control to the CFTC for review. It goes through the voluntary submission process instead of self-certification.

August 26, 2022 – CFTC imposes a stay on Kalshi’s political event contracts and begins a 90-day public interest review. It effectively runs the clock out on Kalshi’s political contracts going into the 2022 midterms.

May 16, 2023 – Kalshi withdraws its congressional control application but plans to reintroduce it to address CFTC staff concerns.

June 12, 2023 – Kalshi refiles its congressional control contract application. This time, Kalshi self-certifies its contracts.

June 22, 2023 – The CFTC initiates a public interest review of Kalshi’s self-certified congressional control contracts.

September 22, 2023 – The CFTC disapproves of Kalshi’s congressional control contract, citing Rule 40.11 prohibiting event contracts related to “gaming” and “activity that is unlawful under state law.”

Kalshi lead-up analysis

Kalshi launched with the vision of offering event contracts on everything. Events included rainfall amounts, daily temperature markets, and the prices of various financial indicators. Kalshi’s rationale was that contracts on economically impactful events would be better tools to hedge against or expose traders to niche risks than cobbling stock packages together that could rise or fall if an event occurred.

However, election contracts eluded Kalshi since its launch in July 2021. Elections have great economic consequences for many traders. A new president or party’s legislative priorities impact different industries, requiring hedging instruments that react differently to Democratic or Republican policy goals.

Kalshi began meeting with CFTC staff members, commissioners, and members of Congress in 2021 to figure out how to launch election contracts. Gambling on elections has been illegal in the United States for decades. So, Kalshi had to overcome both a history of anti-election betting policy and Dodd-Frank reforms meant to place guardrails back on derivatives trading following the 2008 financial crisis.

In July 2022, Kalshi first attempted to launch contracts on which party would control each chamber of Congress by submitting them to the CFTC for approval. The CFTC commenced a 90-day public interest review but never issued a ruling, running out the clock before the 2022 midterms.

Kalshi tried again in May 2023, this time using the self-certification process. The CFTC commenced a 90-day public interest review and disapproved Kalshi’s election contracts. Regulators argued that the election contracts constituted gaming and activities illegal under state or federal law.

Kalshi and other Republican CFTC commissioners believed the CFTC’s definition of “gaming” made all event contracts gambling instruments. This view would form the foundation of Kalshi’s upcoming legal arguments.

Timeline: Kalshi election contracts lawsuit

November 1, 2023 – Kalshi sues the CFTC, arguing the agency’s public interest review violated the Administrative Procedures Act.

May 30, 2024 – D.C. District Court hears oral arguments in Kalshi v. CFTC over Kalshi’s motion for a summary judgment.

September 6, 2024 – The D.C. District Court grants Kalshi a summary judgment allowing it to offer its election contracts. The CFTC requests an emergency stay on the same day. The D.C. District grants an administrative stay, preventing Kalshi from offering its election contacts despite its favorable ruling.

September 12, 2024 – The D.C. District Court denies the CFTC’s emergency stay and lifts the administrative stay from Kalshi’s election contracts. The congressional control contracts go live later that day. Then, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals stays the District Court’s order, pausing trading on Kalshi’s election contracts.

September 19, 2024 – The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals hears oral arguments in Kalshi v. CFTC over the agency’s request for an emergency stay, which would pause election trading as the case moved through the courts.

October 2, 2024 – The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denies the CFTC’s request for a stay and dissolves its administrative stay on the District Court’s order. Trading resumes in Kalshi’s two congressional control markets. Kalshi self-certifies its presidential election contract that day.

January 17, 2025 – The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals hears oral arguments in Kalshi v. CFTC.

May 7, 2025 – The D.C. Circuit grants the CFTC’s unopposed motion to dismiss Kalshi’s election contract lawsuit.

Election contracts case analysis

On Nov. 1, 2023, Kalshi sued the CFTC over its decision to prohibit Kalshi from listing its election contracts.

Kalshi argued that its election contracts were not on games and that elections were legal under state and federal law. So, the CFTC overstepped its regulatory authority by prohibiting Kalshi from listing its election contracts. The CFTC countered that the event contracts were functionally bets on the election, so its 2011 rule prohibiting “gaming” contracts from derivatives exchanges allowed it to prohibit them.

The District Court sided with Kalshi in September, agreeing with Kalshi’s argument that if placing a trade on an event contract is “gaming,” then all trades would be gaming, and the definition would be unworkable. Kalshi echoed those arguments in its appeals case, and the opinion remains to be released.

The CFTC attempted to get an emergency stay, which would have prevented Kalshi’s election contracts from going live until the case’s final ruling. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an administrative stay while it decided whether to make a stay last through the duration of the case. In October, the D.C. Circuit denied the CFTC’s emergency stay and dissolved the administrative stay, allowing Kalshi’s election contracts to go live.

Kalshi didn’t stop at congressional control contracts. It self-certified its presidential election market the same day and quickly followed with state electoral college markets and contracts on foreign elections. Kalshi took its early legal victory and ran as far as it could with it.

Timeline: Kalshi’s sports contracts

December 19, 2024 – Crypto.com self-certifies event contracts on title events held by sports leagues – effectively Super Bowl event contracts.

January 14, 2025 – The CFTC announces that it will initiate a public interest review of Crypto.com’s sports contracts. Crypto.com refuses to suspend trading on its sports contracts.

January 23, 2025 – Kalshi launches title association contacts – effectively its own Super Bowl contracts.

January 30, 2025 – Crypto.com files a successor filing to offer its sports contracts with different language. Instead of offering event contracts on a “title event,” Crypto.com would offer contracts on “live presentations.”

February 3, 2025 – Kalshi announces a partnership with brokerage company Robinhood. Robinhood lists Kalshi’s Super Bowl contracts. Crypto.com withdraws its original Super Bowl contract filing.

February 4, 2025 – Robinhood pauses trading on Kalshi’s Super Bowl contracts after the CFTC requests additional documentation showing how the sports contracts comply with CFTC regulations. Kalshi continues offering the contracts.

March 4, 2025 – Nevada sends Kalshi, Crypto.com, and Robinhood cease-and-desist letters ordering the companies to pull election and sports contracts from the state.

March 17, 2025 – Robinhood announces a prediction market hub powered by Kalshi that will include markets on the March Madness tournament and May’s target fed funds rate.

March 26, 2025 – Montana sends Kalshi a cease and desist letter, though it was not made public until early April.

March 27, 2025 – New Jersey sends Kalshi a cease and desist letter ordering the company to pull its sports contracts from the state.

March 28, 2025 – Kalshi files suits against Nevada and New Jersey, arguing that only the CFTC has the authority to limit its event contracts. Robinhood pulls its sports contracts from New Jersey.

March 31, 2025 – Ohio sends Kalshi a cease-and-desist letter over its sports contracts.

April 1, 2025 – Illinois sends Kalshi a cease-and-desist letter over its sports contracts.

April 7, 2025 – Maryland sends Kalshi a cease-and-desist letter over its sports contracts.

April 8, 2025 – The Nevada District Court grants Kalshi a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, agreeing with Kalshi’s argument that the question of its sports contracts must be resolved by the CFTC or Congress instead of state gambling regulators.

April 22, 2025 – Kalshi files suit against Maryland gambling regulators.

April 25, 2025 – The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board submits testimony that the executive director planned to deliver at the cancelled prediction markets roundtable. Sporttrade also submits a comment to the CFTC that ends by announcing the company’s intention to apply for no-action relief to offer its sports contracts in all 50 states.

April 28, 2025 – The New Jersey District Court grants Kalshi a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, echoing Nevada’s conclusion concerning federal preemption.

April 29, 2025 – Michigan Gaming Control Board submits comments to the CFTC outlining “concerns” about sports contracts.

May 8, 2025 – New Jersey files an appeal to overturn Kalshi’s preliminary injunction.

May 14, 2025 – The Nevada Resort Association files an emergency motion to intervene in Kalshi’s case against Nevada. If granted, it would make the NRA, an organization of Nevada’s resorts, the new defendants in Kalshi’s case against the Nevada Gaming Commission.

May 15, 2025 – New Jersey asks Third Circuit to expedite its appeal of Kalshi’s preliminary injunction.

Sports contracts analysis

Once Kalsihi was able to offer its election contracts, another platform considered expanding into sports. Crypto.com self-certified its contracts on title events held by major sports leagues – Super Bowl contracts – on Dec. 19, 2024. On Jan. 14, 2025, the CFTC asked Crypto.com to suspend trading for a 90-day public interest review. Crypto.com refused, arguing that the next administration taking power in six days should be the one to judge sports contracts.

Kalshi didn’t self-certify its Super Bowl contracts until Jan. 23, three days into Trump’s second term. However, the CFTC wasn’t pliant. After Kalshi announced a partnership with Robinhood to offer Super Bowl contracts to both companies’ customers, the CFTC asked Robinhood to pause trading and send additional documentation showing how the sports contracts complied with CFTC regulations.

Robinhood paused trading on the Super Bowl contracts. Kalshi kept them up on its platform.

By the time Robinhood announced its prediction market hub on March 17, Kalshi and Robinhood had worked with the CFTC behind the scenes to clear sports contracts. However, March Madness contracts also led five more states to issue cease-and-desist letters through March and April.

New Jersey was the second state to publicly send Kalshi, Robinhood, and Crypto.com a cease-and-desist letter. (Montana was the second, but its letter wasn’t made public until April.) Robinhood pulled its sports contracts from New Jersey on March 28, the day after it received the no-action letter. Kalshi sued New Jersey and Nevada, arguing that only the CFTC could limit its event contracts.

Judges in both states’ district courts granted Kalshi a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, preventing Kalshi from being penalized by state gambling regulators during the case. Both judges thought that Kalshi was likely to succeed on the merits of its case, believing Kalshi’s argument that Congress intended for the CFTC to be the sole regulator of event contracts.

These two rulings are only the first, and the cases still have to play out. But if there’s one lesson to draw from Kalshi’s election case, it’s that the company will take its small wins and leverage them as much as it can.

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Chris Gerlacher

Chris is the senior political reporter and industry analyst at PredictionNews. He specializes in the ever-changing political betting markets, while also covering the emerging prediction market industry. Previously, he was the lead writer at Catena Media, where he contrasted the parallels between sports betting and prediction markets. Chris also is a political contributor for The Center Square.