CFTC sues Minnesota to block nation's first felony ban on event contracts
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Minnesota to block a state law that would make trading event contracts a felony. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed the ban through SF 4760 on May 19, 2026, incorporating language from Senator John Marty's bill SF 4511. The statute prohibits contracts on sports, wars, terrorism, assassinations, elections, and other topics, with the prohibition taking effect August 1. The CFTC filed suit the following day, arguing the law would harm Minnesota farmers who rely on weather and crop-related event contracts and asserting exclusive federal jurisdiction over the products. Minnesota is the first state to prohibit sports event contracts. The suit follows Pennsylvania regulators' May 18 filing opposing sports event contracts with the CFTC and comes as a Senate hearing on sports betting integrity looms.
The CFTC's direct involvement in Minnesota gives Kalshi institutional backing it lacked when it sued Ohio alone last October. A federal-preemption win arms the agency's parallel challenge against Wisconsin and deflects Pennsylvania's separate opposition filing.
Extends the CFTC's federal-preemption offensive from Ohio to Minnesota, making it the second active suit in which the agency directly challenges state-level event-contract bans rather than leaving platforms to litigate alone.