Nevada AG hails dual circuit rulings letting states regulate event contracts
Nevada Attorney General Ford praised a Sixth Circuit ruling that affirms states may regulate event contracts under their own gambling laws. Nevada previously led a multistate brief defending state authority. A separate Ninth Circuit ruling the next day also backed state power over sports event contracts, creating parallel circuit precedent that challenges the federal shield CFTC-registered platforms have relied upon.
Kalshi, Robinhood, and Crypto.com can no longer treat CFTC registration as a national license. The Sixth and Ninth Circuits have both ruled that federal designation does not preempt state gambling laws, so platforms must now geofence or pull sports contracts state by state. Traders hold positions whose legality shifts with crossing a border, not with regulation.
Every retreat becomes precedent the next attorney general copies; Robinhood already folded in Michigan, and Connecticut and Missouri opened fronts this month. Legal spend compounds across parallel cases faster than any single resolution. The Supreme Court petitions represent the only path to uniform rules, but months of delay risk more state bans before any federal answer. The first operator to lose outright becomes the template every state races to replicate.