Ohio will treat sports-related trading on prediction market platform Kalshi as illegal gambling and enforce state law after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to block the state’s regulatory action. The court upheld a lower court ruling denying Kalshi’s request for a preliminary injunction (temporary court order) and said federal law does not preempt state gambling laws. It also found Kalshi had not sufficiently shown that its sports event contracts fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (U.S. derivatives regulator). The Ohio Casino Control Commission considers Kalshi’s sports contracts unlicensed sports betting and has told the company to stop the service or obtain a license while meeting regulatory and tax obligations. The commission notified Kalshi in April of its plan to impose a $5 million penalty. Kalshi is challenging Ohio’s action in court, arguing that its contracts are federally regulated financial products rather than wagers under state law, while saying nationwide rules are needed because differing state requirements would make the market difficult to operate.