The Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Arkansas on 13 November 2026 to block the state’s action against CFTC-registered exchanges offering event contracts. The CFTC said Arkansas’s case against Kalshi is pre-empted by federal law, while Arkansas alleges that Kalshi operates unlicensed gambling in the state.
The case could determine whether states can enforce gambling laws against federally regulated event-contract exchanges.
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Polymarket and Crypto.com-owned OG.com filed separate federal lawsuits against Arkansas officials, seeking to prevent enforcement of state gambling laws against their event-contract markets. Both companies cite the state’s recent case against Kalshi as evidence that they could face enforcement; the suits argue federal law pre-empts Arkansas law.
A federal judge blocked Minnesota's proposed ban on prediction markets. Judge Katherine Menendez ruled that the CFTC holds sole authority over event contracts and that the block would cause irreparable harm to Kalshi and Polymarket.
The CFTC filed a motion in the US District Court for the District of Rhode Island seeking to stop state officials from applying gambling laws to CFTC-registered prediction markets. The commission said event contracts fall within its exclusive remit as commodity derivatives; the filing followed a lawsuit by Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha against Kalshi and Polymarket.
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin concluded in an opinion dated 23 October that prediction-market platforms would violate state gambling laws if they operated without a licence. The opinion said the platforms would not qualify as paid fantasy sports games and would therefore fall outside the state’s fantasy sports tax and exemptions.
Arkansas Senator Brian King asked Attorney General Tim Griffin for a formal opinion on the legality of prediction markets in the state. King’s questions cover whether platforms such as Kalshi need a gaming licence, whether sports event contracts face the fantasy-sports tax and what other rules or limits may apply.