Michigan AG asks judge to hold Kalshi in contempt over state ad targeting
Michigan attorney general Dana Nessel asked Ingham County Circuit Court judge Rosemarie Aquilina to hold Kalshi in contempt of court. Nessel alleged Kalshi targeted advertisements to Michigan residents while under a preliminary injunction barring the platform from operating in the state. In a court filing, Nessel said the company elected to thumb its nose at the court. The contempt request deepens Kalshi's state-level legal fight even as some competitors withdraw from sports event contracts voluntarily.
Kalshi is now the only major platform still fighting Michigan in court after Coinbase and Robinhood settled and pulled their sports event contracts. A contempt ruling would be the first against a CFTC-registered prediction market for violating a state injunction, giving other state attorneys general a template for enforcement. Each platform that folds strengthens the gambling-framing theory Michigan and Ohio are testing.
Smaller operators without Kalshi's legal budget will face the same choice: expensive state-by-state litigation or retreat. The CFTC's swap-rule proposal remains in White House review, slower than these courtroom clocks. Kalshi's defiance keeps a national market alive but raises the personal legal risk for its executives if the judge rules against them.
Joins Ohio's cease-and-desist campaign and Utah's suit against Kalshi and Susquehanna as the third major state enforcement action this week against federally registered prediction market operators, cementing state gambling commissions as active rivals to CFTC oversight.