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A Washington state judge has granted a preliminary injunction blocking Kalshi from offering event contracts in the state, marking another legal setback for the prediction market operator as state-level challenges continue to build.
Judge John McHale of King County Superior Court said Washington showed a likelihood of “actual and substantial injury” to consumers from illegal gambling activities if the injunction were not issued. According to the ruling, the public interest and potential consumer harm outweighed the harm to Kalshi.
The judge said he plans to issue an order implementing the injunction on August 5.
Washington now joins Massachusetts, Michigan, and Nevada in winning court orders restricting Kalshi’s activities, according to the report. The case adds to a broader fight over whether states can treat prediction market contracts as illegal gambling, or whether the industry falls under federal oversight.
Kalshi said states do not have jurisdiction to regulate prediction markets and criticized Washington’s legal effort, saying the state was wasting taxpayer dollars.
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown took the opposite view, saying Kalshi had promoted illegal betting on sports, elections, measles cases, a child trafficking hearing, and natural disasters. Brown called the ruling “the first step toward holding Kalshi accountable.”
The dispute is unfolding alongside a wider jurisdiction battle involving the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The article says the CFTC has claimed exclusive authority over the industry and has challenged regulatory activity in at least nine states. In April, a divided federal appeals court cited the CFTC’s authority when it blocked New Jersey gaming regulators from policing Kalshi’s sports event contracts.
Kalshi has also lost a separate court fight in New York. On July 8, a federal judge there rejected the company’s bid to block enforcement of that state’s gambling laws.
For players, the immediate takeaway is straightforward: access to Kalshi’s event contracts can change state by state as courts and regulators continue to clash over whether these markets are lawful gambling products or federally regulated financial contracts.
The broader market remains significant. The report says prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket have grown in popularity since the 2024 U.S. presidential election, and that about $19.04 billion was wagered through the two platforms on the recently completed soccer World Cup, citing Dune Analytics.
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Source: As reported by Jonathan Stempel.
