Kalshi asks full Sixth Circuit to rehear sports contract ruling
Kalshi has asked the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to rehear a September 2026 panel ruling that declined to shield its sports event contracts from Ohio and Tennessee gambling laws. The petition for en banc review seeks broader appellate review after a three-judge panel sided with Ohio and Tennessee officials. Kalshi has used a similar strategy at the Ninth Circuit after an unfavorable ruling there.
Kalshi's rehearing bid is its last chance to restore federal preemption in Ohio and Tennessee before the Sixth Circuit's reasoning becomes template litigation elsewhere. State attorneys general already have a playbook from this loss, and the NFL's amicus brief supporting New Jersey deepens the circuit split that emboldens them.
Each new state suit multiplies defense costs and fragments national markets into geofenced patches where contracts trade in some states but not others. The CFTC's swap-rule proposal remains in White House review, slower than courtroom clocks where platforms are losing ground. Kalshi must fund parallel legal spend across federal appeal, state court defense, and possible product redesign while competitors watch which compliance path proves viable.
Joins three other parallel fronts in this month's coverage: a prior Sixth Circuit panel loss, Coinbase's Michigan retreat under the same gambling-framing theory, and the NFL-backed New Jersey Supreme Court push that deepens the circuit split Kalshi now asks the full Sixth Circuit to resolve.