Kalshi sues Missouri to block cease-and-desist on sports event contracts
Kalshi filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday, October 27 against Missouri after Attorney General Catherine Hanaway issued cease-and-desist notices last month to six sports event contract platforms. The prediction market operator argues the state's ban is impossible to comply with and claims its contracts fall exclusively under federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission jurisdiction. The suit joins similar actions by fellow prediction market operators against the state.
Missouri is now the second state where Kalshi has turned to federal courts for preemption cover in under a week, after filing a parallel suit in Louisiana. The platform is racing to build a Fifth Circuit counter-precedent before its Sixth Circuit loss in Ohio and Tennessee hardens into settled law. Crypto.com and Novig have already joined the Missouri fight with their own suit, testing whether a broader industry front can succeed where Kalshi stood alone.
Each state victory for attorneys general becomes template law the next state copies, multiplying Kalshi's legal spend and forcing retreat to geofenced markets. The NFL has urged the Supreme Court to cement state gambling framing, so every loss deepens that alliance. The CFTC's swap-rule proposal remains in White House review, slower than any courtroom clock.