Source: The Guardian

The Guardian

A federal appeals court panel in Philadelphia ruled on Monday, 6 April 2026, that New Jersey gaming regulators cannot stop Kalshi from allowing users in the state to trade sports-related event contracts on its prediction market. The three-judge panel of the US third circuit court of appeals decided 2-1 that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has exclusive jurisdiction over the sports-related event contracts Kalshi lists, concluding that the Commodity Exchange Act likely pre-empts New Jersey law. The article reports that a lower court had earlier issued a preliminary injunction in favor of Kalshi, and New Jersey appealed that decision.

The piece explains Kalshi’s position that its event contracts qualify as “swaps,” a derivative type regulated exclusively under the Commodity Exchange Act and overseen by the CFTC, which had licensed Kalshi to operate as a designated contract market (DCM). The ruling aligns with recent actions by the CFTC, which has sued Arizona, Connecticut and Illinois to block state regulation of prediction markets. The article notes a dissent by US circuit judge Jane Richards Roth, who characterized Kalshi’s offerings as functionally similar to online sports betting products. It also records that New Jersey’s attorney general, Jennifer Davenport, said her office was evaluating options and could seek an en banc rehearing, while other courts — including a San Francisco appeals court — are also considering related matters. The article adds that separate judges in Nevada and Massachusetts have issued or signaled injunctions against some Kalshi offerings, with outcomes pending appeal.