Kalshi loses Washington injunction bid and California tribal-land ruling
A King County Superior Court judge ruled against Kalshi on Thursday, denying its bid to lift an injunction that bars the prediction market platform's operations in Washington state. The ruling keeps the state-level prohibition on Kalshi's event contracts in place. Separately, the Ninth Circuit held the same day that California tribes are likely to succeed in their challenge against Kalshi sports-event contracts on tribal lands, marking another setback in the tribal gaming jurisdiction dispute.
Kalshi's national market is fragmenting along sovereign and state borders. The Washington ruling keeps a full state ban in force, while the Ninth Circuit's California decision adds a second tribal-compact loss to its Nevada defeat. Each ruling invites more tribes and attorneys general to file copycat suits. Geofence costs multiply with every new jurisdiction.
Traders now hold positions whose validity shifts with geography, not regulation. The platform must allocate legal spend across parallel state cases instead of one clean federal defense. New Jersey's Supreme Court petition remains Kalshi's only path to uniform rules, but cert grants are rare. Every month of consideration risks another tribe or state stepping through the opening.