While a handful of state and federal judges have ordered Kalshi to restrict access to sports-event contracts on tribal lands and in several states, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has ordered federally regulated exchanges to ignore court orders.
The CFTC ordered designated contract markets (DCMs), including prediction markets offering sports-event contracts, to end current geofencing restrictions within the U.S. that violate “impartial access requirements” within 30 days or explain why compliance is not feasible.
“Derivatives markets must operate on a uniform basis at a national scale in order to achieve the purposes set out in the Commodity Exchange Act,” CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said in a statement. “Geographic access restrictions are inconsistent with those purposes and the Act’s impartial access requirements.”
Selig’s decision puts prediction market exchanges in direct conflict with court orders requiring geofencing in Nevada, Washington, Michigan, and tribal lands in California.
It also puts Fanatics, FanDuel, and DraftKings in an awkward position, since they’ve made the decision not to offer sports-event contracts in the states where they also hold a gaming license. Some states, such as Ohio and Massachusetts, have threatened the loss of licenses for companies that offer sports-event contracts within their boundaries.
Previously, the CFTC ordered Kalshi to ignore court orders in Michigan and New York. Kalshi was told to fulfill certain Michigan trades despite a state court order, while in an emergency order in New York, the agency directed the exchange to continue operating even if a state court ordered them to cease operations.
Senator Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, expressed his bewilderment at the CFTC’s order for DCMs to end geofencing, describing sports event contracts as sports bets.
“By effectively requiring prediction markets to offer contracts in all 50 states, even on tribal lands, the CFTC is once again. Violating state law and tribal sovereignty,” Schiff wrote on X.
Despite ongoing litigation and court orders to cease offering contracts in several states and tribal lands, Schiff said the CFTC and “its rouge chairman now appear to be encouraging platforms to continue offering gambling products in contempt of these court orders.”
“This is the CFTC’s most egregious attempt yet to undermine state law, the tribes and now, the courts,” Schiff wrote. “The CFTC chairman has been captured by the industry, and his actions reflect only their interests.”
The CFTC’s guidance was issued after Jacqueline Scott Corley, a judge with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, granted a preliminary injunction Wednesday blocking Kalshi from offering contracts on tribal lands.
Corley issued the injunction after a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling found two tribes were likely to succeed with their claim that Kalshi’s sports-event contracts constitute Class III gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).
The court order blocks Kalshi from offering sports-event contracts on the Blue Lake Rancheria and Chicken Ranch Rancheria of We-Wuk Indians’ lands. In November 2025, Corley denied the tribes motion for an injunction, writing that their IGRA claims were unlikely to succeed.
Corley’s order prohibits sports contracts on baseball, tennis, pickleball, soccer, basketball, football, golf, chess, esports, hockey, motorsports, boxing, wrestling, and Ultimate Fighting Championship events.
According to the ruling, the tribes have until Friday to provide Kalshi with maps of their tribal lands. By November 25, Kalshi is required to submit a report to the court detailing the steps the company has taken to comply with the order.
Arkansas attorney general seeks to block Kalshi
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin has sued prediction market operator Kalshi for allegedly operating an illegal gambling business in the state.
The lawsuit, filed under the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, seeks restitution, civil penalties, unpaid taxes, and an injunction against the company’s operations. Griffin issued a legal opinion describing prediction markets as gambling, requiring a state license.
“Kalshi has built a global business that it calls a prediction market, allowing consumers to wager money on the outcome of just about anything,” Griffin said. “You can wager on the outcome of elections, reality competition shows, football games, and much more.”
Griffin explained that it doesn’t take a genius to understand that wagering money on whether the Arkansas Razorbacks win or lose is gambling. “And gambling on an unregulated platform is squarely prohibited by Arkansas law,” he said.
In the lawsuit, Griffin argues that invoking the terminology of derivative markets, Kalshi describes its products as “event contracts” traded on “prediction markets.” But those labels do not change the fact that Kalshi, in large part, is a straightforward gambling platform, the lawsuit reads.
The complaint argues that the existence of legitimate derivatives does not grant Kalshi cart blanche to turn virtually any real-world occurrence into a betting-market opportunity.
“When it comes to the majority of its offering, Kalshi is not a risk management tool: It is a pocket-sized bookie,” Griffin wrote in the state’s complaint filed in the Circuit Court of Independence County, Arkansas Civil Division.
Griffin also alleges that Kalshi allows residents aged 18 to 20 to purchase event contracts despite Arkansas requiring casino customers to be at least 21.
The lawsuit follows an October 2025 attorney general opinion issued in response to questions from Republican state Senator Bryan King.
Griffin’s office concluded that the fact that a company, such as Kalshi, has rebranded this gambling activity as a “prediction market” does not protect it from scrutiny. The opinion found that Kalshi’s business model constituted gambling under state law and required a gaming license.
U.S. senators question X over Polymarket ads
Four Democratic senators are asking social-media platform X why users appeared unable to report Polymarket ads through its standard interface, while saying the option was available for Kalshi and other prediction market ads.
“Typically, X allows users to report an ad for a myriad of reasons. However, when attempting to report Polymarket’s ads through the standard X interface, users are denied the option to do so,” the senators said.
They also questioned whether Polymarket received preferential treatment and raised concerns about Donlad Trump Jr.’s role as an advisor to and investor in the company.
Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jackey Rosen (Nevada), Adam Schiff (California), and Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut asked whether X’s partnership with Polymarket affects how the platform applies its advertising policies. The senators also wanted to know how X handles ads for sports-event contracts in states where their legality is disputed.
The senators requested a response by November 30.
