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U.S. CFTC Sues New York as 38 States Back State Oversight of Kalshi Prediction Markets

According to the CFTC, its suits against New York and Wisconsin challenge state efforts to police prediction market and sports event contracts, despite broader backing from 38 states for state-level oversight.

Fact Check
The core of the claim is strongly supported by CFTC primary sources. Release Number 9218-26 confirms the CFTC sued New York on April 24, 2026 over the state's attempts to apply gambling laws to CFTC-registered prediction markets. Release Number 9220-26 confirms the CFTC sued Wisconsin on April 28, 2026 and explicitly frames the dispute as one over state efforts to police prediction markets and sports event contracts despite the CFTC's view that Congress granted it exclusive jurisdiction. The '38 states back state oversight' portion is supported by 38 state AGs sign amicus brief supporting Mass. in Kalshi lawsuit, which reports that 38 state attorneys general filed an amicus brief supporting Massachusetts's lawsuit against Kalshi and describes the dispute as whether state gaming regulators or the CFTC should oversee prediction markets. That is slightly narrower than saying all 38 backed 'state-level oversight' in the specific New York and Wisconsin suits, but it substantively supports the broader framing that 38 states favored state authority over Kalshi-type prediction markets. Crypto.news and CoinDesk further corroborate the New York and Wisconsin lawsuits and the jurisdictional conflict.
Summary

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has intensified its legal campaign against state enforcement involving prediction markets, including an April 24 lawsuit in the Southern District of New York seeking to permanently block application of state gambling laws to federally registered exchanges and a separate federal suit against Wisconsin officials over sports event contracts. In the Wisconsin case, the CFTC says the state’s actions against Coinbase, Robinhood, Crypto.com, Polymarket and Kalshi intrude on the agency’s exclusive jurisdiction over these event-based contracts. The dispute reflects a widening conflict over whether platforms such as Kalshi and similar markets should be governed primarily under federal derivatives law or remain subject to state gambling and consumer protection rules, even as attorneys general from 38 states have supported state-level oversight.

Terms & Concepts
  • CFTC: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the U.S. federal regulator responsible for overseeing derivatives markets, including certain event-based contracts.
  • Prediction markets: Platforms or markets where users trade contracts tied to future events, with prices often reflecting expectations about outcomes.
  • Kalshi: A U.S.-based prediction market platform that offers regulated event contracts on real-world outcomes.