Nevada Judge to Kalshi: Your Sports Markets Look Just Like Gambling to Us

A Nevada judge has extended a temporary ban on prediction market provider Kalshi's sports-related contracts in the Silver State. Judge Jason Woodbury in the First Judicial District Court said he would grant the Nevada Gaming Control Board's request for a preliminary injunction against Kalshi, preventing it from offering certain prediction markets until a broader court case is resolved. He extended the temporary restraining order first granted on March 20 by two weeks to sort out the language of the injunction. The judge's original order blocked Kalshi from offering sports, entertainment and election-related bets. Because apparently, in Nevada, the only thing more regulated than gambling is the idea of someone else doing gambling but calling it a "derivatives product."

In his ruling, Judge Woodbury said buying a contract on a baseball game on Kalshi was "indistinguishable" from placing a bet on a state gaming platform. "So I find based on the arguments that have been presented that it is a gaming activity that is prohibited for any non-licensee to engage in," he said. Translation: you can call it a swap all you want, but when you're betting on whether the Yankees cover the run line, the judge sees through the fancy financial terminology like a clear Liquidity pool.

Representatives for Kalshi and the Nevada Gaming Control Board did not respond to requests for comment. Classic radio silence from both sides, probably because their lawyers told them to shut up and let the paperwork do the talking.

State regulators across the U.S. have been moving to block prediction market providers, arguing their sports-related products appear to be gambling products that should be regulated at the state