Nevada gaming regulators sue Kalshi to halt sports prediction markets

The Nevada Gaming Control Board filed a lawsuit on February 18, 2026, seeking to block prediction-market operator Kalshi from offering event contracts that would permit residents of Nevada to wager on sports. This legal action represents a significant test of the extent of state gaming regulators' authority over prediction markets in the US US compared to the asserted exclusive federal jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The outcome of the case could determine whether individual states maintain the power to require licensing and impose gaming safeguards on such platforms or if oversight remains solely at the federal level.

The lawsuit was filed concurrently with a brief from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that asserts its own exclusive federal jurisdiction over these markets. This development follows a series of recent court orders in other states, including an injunction in a Massachusetts state court involving the state attorney general and prior orders from a Nevada state court. These parallel filings highlight an escalating national legal dispute over which regulatory body ultimately governs prediction-market products, a conflict that has moved into various state and federal venues.