Court Rules Against CFTC and Kalshi in Wisconsin Sports Prediction Markets Case

HIGHLIGHTS The court denied the CFTC's motion for a preliminary injunction. The Judge also signaled that state laws could govern sports prediction markets. Kalshi's motion to intervene in the CFTC suit against Wisconsin was also denied. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and prediction markets platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket have suffered another major loss in their fight against states’ crackdowns on sports event contracts. This follows a federal court ruling rejecting the CFTC’s and Kalshi’s motions in the CFTC’s case against Wisconsin.
Court Rejects CFTC’s Motion In Prediction Markets Case
The court document shows that a federal court rejected the CFTC’s motion for a preliminary injunction against Wisconsin to prevent the state from enforcing its laws against platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket. The court also rejected Kalshi and Crypto.com’s motion to intervene in the suit for a preliminary injunction.

The CFTC filed this lawsuit against Wisconsin in April, following the state’s lawsuits against Kalshi, Polymarket, Crypto.com, Robinhood, and Coinbase. The state had filed these suits against these CFTC-regulated prediction markets based on its claims that their event contracts violated its gambling laws.

In response, the CFTC sought to stop these lawsuits from proceeding, arguing that it has exclusive jurisdiction over these platforms. Wisconsin is one of many states the Commission has sued in a bid to affirm its exclusive jurisdiction over these platforms.

State regulators allege that top sports prediction market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket are violating their gambling laws by operating these platforms and offering sports event contracts in their respective states without a gaming license. Kalshi recently settled with the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) to implement a ban on its sports prediction market in the state.
Judge Signals State Laws Could Govern Sports Contracts
Judge William Griesbach, who is presiding over the case, signaled that state laws could have authority over sports prediction markets. “But for purposes of deciding whether there is even a justiciable controversy, the court notes that the plain language of Wisconsin’s commercial gambling statute seems to cover sports-related event contracts registered with the CFTC,” he said.

This statement by the Judge mirrors Judge Analisa Torres’ ruling in Kalshi’s case against New York. As CoinGape reported, the Judge ruled that New York state gambling laws apply to Kalshi’s sports-related event contracts and are not preempted by the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).

As to what’s next in Wisconsin’s case against the five CFTC-regulated prediction markets, legal expert Daniel Wallach revealed that these lawsuits will be remanded to state court due to lack of complete preemption. He added that the state courts will issue preliminary injunctions barring these platforms from offering sports contracts within the state.

Next steps in Wisconsin:

The ‘removed’ lawsuits vs. Kalshi, Polymarket, Nadex, Crypto, Coinbase & Robinhood will be remanded to state court due to lack of ‘complete preemption.’

State courts will issue PIs barring these companies from offering sports contracts within Wisconsin. https://t.co/8Fw16OySgG
— Daniel Wallach (@WALLACHLEGAL) July 29, 2026