Ninth Circuit denies Kalshi stay in Washington appeal; state filed response May 19
The Ninth Circuit rejected Kalshi's bid to stay a Washington state gambling case on May 23, one day after the state filed its opposition brief in appeal No. 26-3106 on May 19. The panel's ruling denies Kalshi circuit-level protection and leaves the prediction-market platform exposed to state-court enforcement while it pursues appellate options. Polymarket also lost its parallel stay bid in the same order, linking both platforms to the same procedural outcome. The ruling follows Washington's May 19 filing that cited Georgia Gambling Recovery LLC v. Kalshi Inc. as the sole case where a court declined to remand after Kalshi removed state-law claims to federal court.
Kalshi must now defend the Washington state action without interim federal protection while simultaneously litigating in Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Nevada. Any adverse state ruling forces immediate geoblocking in that jurisdiction and supplies a template for the four other state AGs already mid-investigation.
Kalshi and Polymarket now face active state-court litigation in Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nevada, and Washington while pursuing federal preemption claims on three appellate fronts — Ohio, Arizona, and the Ninth Circuit — with no circuit yet granting definitive federal protection.