Ninth Circuit upholds Nevada ban on Kalshi sports contracts
The Ninth Circuit unanimously rejected Kalshi's reading of the Commodity Exchange Act and upheld Nevada's ban on the platform's sports event contracts. Kalshi CEO Mansour said Tuesday he disagrees with how the company was characterized. The ruling comes as tribes back a Supreme Court challenge and as Kalshi's talks with the NBA approach. Judge Andrew Gordon was involved in the lower-court proceedings. Source: sccgmanagement.com (2026-09-06T09:16:59.000Z)
Kalshi must now geofence Nevada or face state gambling enforcement that federal registration no longer blocks. The unanimous ruling gives other states a ready template to treat CFTC-registered sports contracts as gambling. Connecticut already sued. New Jersey petitioned the Supreme Court. Each new state filing emboldens the next attorney general.
Kalshi's legal spend compounds across parallel cases while its national sports market fragments into geofenced state markets. Polymarket and other CFTC-registered platforms face identical exposure because the reasoning reaches any venue offering sports-linked contracts. Traders hold positions whose legality shifts with geography.
The unanimous Ninth Circuit opinion becomes the third state-level loss this week to embolden parallel enforcement, after New Jersey's Supreme Court petition and Michigan's $500K daily penalty order.