Kalshi Sports Event Contracts Will Likely Remain in Connecticut, as Lawsuit Plays Out
Posted on: December 5, 2025, 03:58h.
Last updated on: December 5, 2025, 03:58h.
- Kalshi sports event contracts remain in Connecticut for the foreseeable future
- Kalshi is seeking an injunction from Connecticut regulators
This week, Connecticut became the latest state to tell Kalshi and other prediction markets offering sports event contracts to get out.
Kalshi subsequently sued the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection Gaming Division, the state entity that issued the cease and desist order against the prediction market firms. Kalshi is seeking a preliminary injunction, and the state, as reported by prominent gaming attorney Daniel Wallach, has agreed to a tentative schedule.
The federal court case stipulates that Connecticut “will refrain from taking enforcement action” against Kalshi until the Connecticut District Court disposes of Kalshi’s injunction motion. The CT Consumer Protection Department is to file its response to Kalshi’s motion by Jan. 9, 2026, and Kalshi is to submit its “reply in further support” by Jan. 30.
Wallach reports that oral arguments, based on that timeline, will likely occur in February. In the meantime, it’s business as usual for Kalshi sports traders in Connecticut.
Questionable Contracts
Kalshi and its primary competitors, Robinhood and Crypto.com, and the newly launched Fanatics Markets, claim to be financial exchanges offering derivative trading. They hold Designated Contract Market licenses from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and therefore claim state gaming regulators have no oversight powers.
Connecticut joins a lengthy list of states that contend prediction markets offering contracts involving the outcome of sports violate their state gaming laws. The CT Department of Consumer Protection Gaming Division declared prediction market platforms with sports contracts illegal.
Only licensed entities may offer sports wagering in the state of Connecticut. None of these entities possesses a license to offer wagering in our state, and even if they did, their contracts violate numerous other state laws and policies, including offering wagers to individuals under the age of 21,” said DCP Commissioner Bryan T. Cafferelli.
“These platforms are deceptively advertising that their services are legal, but our laws are clear,” added DCP Gaming Director Kris Gilman. “A prediction market wager is not an investment.”
Kalshi and the like argue that participating in event contracts does not constitute gambling.
In a similar ongoing federal case in Nevada, District Court Judge Andrew Gordon in November sided with the Nevada Gaming Control Board in determining sports event contracts to be unregulated, illegal sports betting.
“Nobody thought sports bets were commodities or excluded commodities or swaps until some brilliant people at Kalshi [did],” Gordon concluded.
“Kalshi’s interpretation would require all sports betting across the country to come within the jurisdiction of the CFTC. That interpretation upsets decades of federalism regarding gaming regulation, is contrary to Congress’ intent … and cannot be sustained,” Gordon explained.
Stocks and Gambling
So, is investing sort of like gambling? The Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, the most talented investor in the history of the country, in 2024 linked some modern investing to casino gambling. Buffett thinks mobile trading apps like Robinhood, excessive short-term trading, and options speculation have turned parts of the stock market into a casino.
For whatever reasons, markets now exhibit far more casino-like behavior than they did when I was young,” Buffett wrote in his 2024 annual shareholder letter.
Charlie Munger, Buffett’s late longtime right-hand man, said in 2022 that younger people and speculators “love gambling.”
The trouble is, it’s like taking heroin,” Munger said. “It’s that addictive. It’s gone berserk.”
For Saturday, Kalshi bettors, ahem, traders, can invest in shares of whether the high temperature in Chicago will reach 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and what the NFL announcers will say during the Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers game.
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