Ninth Circuit rules Kalshi cannot block Nevada gaming oversight

A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously on Friday that Kalshi is not entitled to an injunction blocking Nevada gaming regulators from overseeing its sports event contracts.

The court held that U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Gordon did not abuse his discretion in dissolving the preliminary injunction Kalshi had won at the lower court level. The panel found Kalshi had not shown a sufficient likelihood that the Commodity Exchange Act pre-empts Nevada's gaming regulations as applied to sports event contracts.

Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Mike Dreitzer called the decision a complete vindication. Kalshi confirmed it would seek further review, with spokeswoman Dani Lever arguing the Ninth Circuit agreed with the Third Circuit that federal law prevents states from regulating trading on a federally licensed exchange — a framing the Nevada regulators and the American Gaming Association immediately disputed.

The ruling deepens a live circuit split. The Third Circuit held in April that New Jersey could not regulate Kalshi's platform, reasoning that sports event contracts are financial swaps subject to exclusive CFTC jurisdiction. The Ninth Circuit reached the opposite conclusion on the pre-emption question, setting the terms of a conflict the Supreme Court has already agreed to review.