Kalshi pushes back against Nevada and New Jersey

• Kalshi pushes back against Nevada and New Jersey with lawsuits
• Company CEO urges gambling regulators to not overstep their legal purview
• Mansour says prediction markets are misunderstood and a critical innovation

Kalshi, the acclaimed sports prediction market platform, has filed separate lawsuits against Nevada and New Jersey, striking back at the states’ gambling regulators who have served the platform with a cease-and-desist letter each over the platform’s offering of March Madness games and selections.

Kalshi seeks to one-up both DGE and NGCB

Rather than sit quietly and bow out, Kalshi has decided to challenge both regulators, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement and the Nevada Gaming Control Board, respectively.

In a LinkedIn statement, Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour has insisted that the regulators were knowingly and purposefully overstepping their remit by trying to stifle what the chief executive did not hesitate to call the "critical innovation of the 21st century." Mansour also took to X to spread his company's intentions over the weekend.

Kalshi is not shy about going head-to-head with regulators over potentially controversial issues. The company sued the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over its prohibition of allowing the company to offer political prediction markets.

Kalshi argued that the CFTC had no blocking powers in the matter and although it has not obtained a ruling in the case, the platform was allowed to continue offering political prediction markets, and as a result, Americans turned up and placed "bets" on the outcomes of the November Presidential election in droves.

Now, Kalshi is testing the legal and regulatory waters once again, arguing that the DGE and the NGCB are trying to enforce their regulatory purview on a company that is outside of their competence and legal right to oversee.

Regulators fail to engage, Kalshi argues

In a parallel X post, Mansour explained that both regulators have issued the aforementioned cease-and-desist letters but failed to engage with the company to help resolve the situation, insisting that Kalshi could educate the regulators about the nature of prediction markets.

"Both states have issued cease and desist orders that fundamentally misunderstand prediction markets and undermine the foundation of U.S. financial markets, which are regulated by the federal government.

We have made every effort to engage proactively with both Nevada and New Jersey and try to educate them about prediction markets, how they are regulated, and how critical they are, but our words fell on deaf ears.

I can’t speak to why they are taking this action, but prediction markets have proven their use, so it is a shame that these authorities are still trying to censor them."

Mansour then wrapped up by saying that his company had no other choice but one: to sue the regulators. Kalshi has been enjoying a strong March Madness. In the first two rounds of play, more than $250m was traded on the platform, which constituted 8% of the predicted total betting handle to be placed on March Madness. The number is now closer to $320m, according to the platform's

Mansour insisted that prediction markets do not violate gambling laws and that they are a critical innovation that must be allowed to continue to thrive and not be stifled under regulatory overreach.

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