Is Kalshi Legal? Court Status in Every State, Checked Weekly

No court has shut Kalshi down nationally: as of 14 November 2026 its sports contracts are blocked for people located in Nevada, Michigan and Washington by state-court injunctions, blocked in Louisiana by a ten-day order of 12 November 2026 (text not retrieved), and barred on two tribal reservations in California.

Federal courts, or the states in writing, have stopped six states from enforcing. A complaint states one side's allegations; only the court's orders decide anything, and every status here carries the date it was checked.

Status of court orders, not availability on the app; a map with no order is not a map of approval. Checked 14 November 2026.

Is Kalshi legal? What the court orders say, state by state

Kalshi is a CFTC-designated contract market, and the dispute is whether the Commodity Exchange Act's exclusive jurisdiction over swaps on such markets preempts state gambling law. Courts have answered both ways. The classes below are read from the order in force:

• Blocked by a court order in force: 4, and on tribal lands only: 1
• Order stayed: 1
• State enjoined, or assured in writing: 6
• Kalshi lost its injunction bid, state may enforce: 7
• State suit pending, no order: 5
• No order or enforcement found: 27

The Sixth and Ninth Circuits hold that sports event contracts are not swaps; the Third holds the opposite. Each order belongs to a case in the prediction market lawsuits: Kalshi, Polymarket and the states.

Blocked by a court order in force

Four states have an order in force against Kalshi's contracts as of 14 November 2026, and a fifth order covers two reservations in California.

Nevada's court (26 OC 00050 1B) entered a stipulated geofencing order on 24 July 2026 with a term of USD 120,000 per day; a Ninth Circuit rehearing was reported denied 3 or 4 November 2026, order not retrieved.

Michigan's order (26-1087-CZ, 1 September 2026) carries USD 500,000 per day, and Washington's final injunction (26-2-10264-3 SEA, 13 August 2026) has no penalty amount in the Attorney General's releases.

Louisiana's ex parte order of 12 November 2026 (20260004268) lapses after ten days unless extended; its text is not retrieved. The California order is a PACER copy hosted by press.

Order against Kalshi stayed

Massachusetts is the one state whose injunction against Kalshi exists but is not in force: the Suffolk Superior Court's preliminary injunction of 20 January 2026 (2584CV02525) was stayed by an Appeals Court single justice on 17 February 2026. The Supreme Judicial Court has not decided SJC-13906, argued 4 May 2026 per press.

Available because a federal court enjoined the state

In six states Kalshi operates because a federal court, or the state itself in writing, has stopped enforcement: New Jersey under the District of New Jersey's injunction of 28 April 2025 (1:25-cv-02152), affirmed by the Third Circuit on 6 April 2026 (No. 25-1922).

Arizona, Minnesota and Illinois are enjoined at the CFTC's request, Maryland gave a written assurance, and Missouri agreed on 10 November 2026, per the court tracker, not to enforce.

Every CFTC suit and every state suit behind these orders sits in the matrix of states suing Kalshi and states sued by the CFTC.

Available, but the state may enforce

In seven states Kalshi lost its bid for an injunction and no court order protects it, so the state may enforce. Ohio's denial of 9 March 2026 (S.D. Ohio 2:25-cv-01165) was affirmed by the Sixth Circuit on 25 September 2026, and Tennessee's injunction of 19 February 2026 was vacated the same day.

New York, Connecticut, Utah, Iowa (per the court tracker) and Montana also denied Kalshi relief; Utah's charges against Kalshi and its founders are allegations only.

State suit pending, no order either way

Five states have sued and nothing has been ordered either way as of 14 November 2026: Arkansas (filed 4 November 2026), Kentucky, New Mexico, Rhode Island (D.R.I. 1:26-cv-00327, argued 3 August 2026) and Wisconsin (removed, remand pending).

No court order or enforcement action found

In 27 states and DC no court order and no state enforcement action against Kalshi is in the record as of 14 November 2026, a finding that rests on a secondary tracker checked the same day and our record. Absence of an order is not approval.

Every state and DC: the full table

The full table repeats every state in alphabetical order with its status text as recorded, its date and its source.

What changes next: hearings, appeals and the Supreme Court

Three petitions for certiorari on sports event contracts are pending, with every response due 7 December 2026, and the Supreme Court has granted none and denied none as of 14 November 2026. They are Nos. 26-299 (Flaherty v. KalshiEX), 26-338 and 26-344.

The circuit split sits behind the petitions: the Third Circuit ruled for Kalshi on 6 April 2026, the Ninth (28 August 2026) and Sixth (25 September 2026) against it. The question is laid out in how is Kalshi legal: the swaps question and the circuit split.

From the opinions in our record, Kalshi's injunction bids have been denied more often than granted. The other pending appeals are collected under pending appeals and high court gambling cases.

How this tracker is built

Each state's row is one dated status plus the prediction-market cases filed there, refreshed weekly and on every hearing date. The class is read from the order in force, not from app availability.

Sources are orders and releases where retrieved, otherwise "per the court tracker", which never stands alone for a status in force. The CSV is free to reuse on open data: download the case database.

The court tracker we cite lists 230 dockets as of 14 November 2026, against 7 cases in our US record; recent differences show under what changed in gambling litigation in the last 60 days.

State-by-state case pages sit in gambling lawsuits in the United States.

Questions people ask

Is Kalshi legal in the USA?

No federal court has ordered Kalshi, a CFTC-designated contract market, to stop operating anywhere. At state level its sports contracts are blocked by court orders in Nevada, Michigan, Washington and, for ten days from 12 November 2026, Louisiana, while six states are enjoined from enforcing against it.

Why is Kalshi controversial?

The fight is whether the Commodity Exchange Act gives the CFTC exclusive jurisdiction over Kalshi's sports contracts as swaps, or whether state gambling law applies; the circuits are split. See CFTC jurisdiction vs state gambling law.

What states are suing Kalshi?

As of 13 November 2026 the CFTC has sued eleven states, and attorneys general in at least ten states have sued Kalshi. Every case is listed in states suing Kalshi and states sued by the CFTC.

Is there a Kalshi lawsuit payout?

No Kalshi case has produced a payout and no class is certified as of 14 November 2026; the consolidated class action (S.D.N.Y. 1:25-cv-08585) is at the motion stage. See Kalshi lawsuits: every case.

Out of scope on this page

Court cases only; not answered here:

• Whether Kalshi is legit or pays real money
• How to use any platform
• The 55 restricted jurisdictions abroad
• Whether DraftKings is available in every state

Edited by the GamblingLawsuits.org Editorial Team. How every case on this page is sourced and checked. Last checked 14 November 2026. Next scheduled check: 21 November 2026 (weekly), then 23 November 2026 (Kalshi v. Louisiana hearing, per the court tracker).