Kalshi Can Keep Operating in Nevada — At Least for Now

Any fans of Kalshi living in Nevada can breathe a temporary sight of relief: the market prediction site is not being banned.

Since 2021, this popular site has been allowed to operate across all 50 states in the US. No exclusions. No harsh regulations.

The reason it’s had so much freedom to begin with is because it’s technically not a gambling site. Instead of placing traditional bets, people trade on future events using financial contracts. They can do this for almost anything, whether they’re predicting who will be the TIME Magazine ‘Person of the Year’ or the date they think GTA 6 will finally drop.

What happened back in March, though, was the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) decided to attack Kalshi by issuing a cease-and-desist order against the site. Why? The NGCB believes Kalshi is violating state gambling laws, despite claiming not to be gambling site. The counter-argument put forward by Kalshi is that its users are signing futures contracts instead of placing actual bets, so no laws are being broken — and it’s ultimately allowed them to secure a short-term legal victory.

Kalshi Wins Reprieve After Intense Legal Battle with Nevada

The US District Court for the District of Nevada ruled on Tuesday against the NGCB’s attempt to ban Kalshi from offering events-based betting opportunities. At the same time, the court also approved a request by Kalshi for a temporary restraining order against the NGCB, allowing them to keep operating in Nevada following a successful preliminary injunction. However, the case itself is not officially over and the next hearing will commence on April 30, 2025. 

In response to the win, Kalshi put out a statement:

“Today, the Federal Court in Nevada granted Kalshi's preliminary injunction and blocked the State from trying to prevent Kalshi from offering prediction markets.We are grateful for the court’s careful attention to this matter and recognition of Kalshi’s status as a CFTC-regulated exchange. Onto the next step.”

At least for now, Kalshi has won. There’s no guarantee that the site has won outright, though, as the US District Court for Nevada still has the power to rule against Kalshi depending on the legal arguments put forward again at the end of April. Naturally, Kalshi will be desperate to win again, as Nevada is one of the most popular states they currently operate in.

The legal headaches don’t end there for Kalshi, either. New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland, Montana and Ohio have also filed cease-and-desist orders against the site for the same reasons, claiming that Kalshi’s user “contracts” reflect unauthorized betting. It’s not yet known what the outcome will be in New Jersey and Ohio, but based on what’s happened with Nevada there’s a strong chance that Kalshi will once again come out on top.

Kalshi CEO: “The state law doesn’t really apply.”

In response to the recent controversy surrounding Kalshia, the company’s CEO Tarek Mansour spoke about at last week’s StrictlyVC event in San Francisco:

“We’re not necessarily very concerned (because) we are regulated at the federal level [...] The state law doesn’t really apply (to us).”

Essentially, the argument being put forward by Mansour is that Kalshi uses event-based contracts and therefore shouldn’t have to deal with sports betting laws set by individual states. As things stand, Kalshi is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commision (CFTC) and Mansour believes that itself is more than enough. For all intents and purposes, Kalshi views itself as an already regulated financial platform rather than a betting site or sportsbook.

Is Kalshi a Betting Site?

Kalshi behaves and functions just like a betting site. However, the twist is that Kalshi is still not classified as a betting site under US law. This is because it’s regulated as a financial trading platform by the CFTC as part of the growing prediction betting market, so there’s a big difference.

Some would argue the site is exploiting a legal loophole. Sure, Kalshi doesn’t operate like a sportsbook does, but you’re still putting money on the line that will either make you a profit or a loss. This is effectively what you call a legal “grey area” and it’s why more states in the US are starting to go against Kalshi.

Moving forward, it’s entirely possible that Kalshi will start to be classed as a gambling site. Of course, this will be subject to state laws and regulations, which is why the outcomes of the ongoing cease-and-desist cases in New Jersey, Ohio, and several other states will be interesting to see.

What Does Kalshi Let You Bet On?

When it comes to what Kalshi actually lets you bet on, the list is huge. We’re talking sports, pop culture, politics, crypto, world news and everything else from day-to-day life. This is why the site has become extremely popular and has over 25 million users.

💰 From a popularity standpoint, most people are using Kalshi to bet on politics and sports. For example, Kalshi customers placed over $200 million worth of trades during the first two rounds of March Madness back in March, showing just how popular the site has become with sports bettors.

Anytime you visit the site you can find interesting betting markets. Here are just some of the current things that users are wagering on:

✔ Will Trump declassify Epstein documents?

✔ Recession this year?

✔ How high will Bitcoin get this year?

✔ This April is the hottest April ever?

✔ Will Elon Musk leave the DOGE?

As you can see, the betting markets are extremely diverse. They're also quite fun, too, which is why so many bettors have started joining the platform. After all, why bet on just sports when you can bet on anything else life-related, too? And when you throw on top the fact that Kalshi is still legal in all 50 US states, you begin to understand why it’s exploded over the past few years.

Summary: What’s Next for Kalshi?

It’s an interesting time for Kalshi and the legal “grey” area that it currently operates in. For now, Kalshi will continue to attract thousands of new users while operating in all 50 US states. However, problems will start to arise if states like New Jersey and Ohio are successful in their bids to have the site banned.

If Kalshi does indeed start being restricted by individual states, it could lead to a tidal wave of others following suit. With this in-mind, you can expect Tarek Mansour’s legal team to fight as hard as they can to keep business booming and have all of this swept under the rug — and it looks like they might just be successful.