Prediction Market Lawsuit Tracker: Where the Courts Stand on Kalshi, Polymarket, Crypto.com and Robinhood

By Arthur Angelo, PredictionScout Research · Updated Oct 12, 2026, 7:51 AM ET

Jump to: Where the courts stand · Supreme Court petition · State by state · Every case · Download the data

Where the courts stand

Dozens of federal cases turn on the same question, and the appeals courts have started to answer it differently. Here is where the main rulings stand, in plain language. Rulings and deadlines checked against the opinions and court dockets as of Oct 8, 2026.

What the federal appeals courts have said

Rulings on whether a state can apply its gambling laws to sports event contracts on a CFTC-registered exchange. These are decisions on preliminary injunctions, not final judgments.

Other appeals still pending (from the case table below): 1st Cir.: Massachusetts (Robinhood, No. 26-1257); 2d Cir.: Connecticut (Kalshi, No. 26-2239), New York (Kalshi, No. 26-1835); 6th Cir.: Michigan (Kalshi, No. 26-1639), Michigan (Polymarket, No. 26-1552), Michigan (Robinhood, No. 26-1542); 7th Cir.: Wisconsin (Kalshi, No. 26-8020); 8th Cir.: Iowa (Kalshi, No. 26-2874); 9th Cir.: Arizona (Kalshi, No. 26-2978), California (Kalshi, No. 25-7504), Nevada (Crypto.com, No. 25-7187), Nevada (Kalshi, No. 26-1304), Nevada (Polymarket, No. 26-1343), Nevada (Robinhood, No. 25-7831), Washington (Kalshi, No. 26-3106); 10th Cir.: Utah (Kalshi, No. 26-4100).

Latest rulings, filings and state actions

• Oct 8, 2026 · NFL files a Supreme Court brief backing New Jersey. The league argues sports event contracts are gambling that states should regulate and that the CFTC lacks the resources to protect game integrity. Kalshi told CNBC the CFTC's ongoing rulemaking addresses many of the league's concerns. Sources: Supreme Court docket Axios CNBC
• Oct 7, 2026 · 39 states and D.C. urge the Supreme Court to take the New Jersey case. Ohio filed a brief joined by 38 other states and the District of Columbia supporting New Jersey's petition. Kalshi and Polymarket, backed by the Trump administration, say the federal government should regulate these markets. Sources: Brief (PDF) Politico The Hill
• Oct 2, 2026 · Illinois: a federal judge partly blocks the state's new rules. Judge Martha M. Pacold partly granted preliminary injunctions in three related cases brought by Kalshi, by Coinbase and by the United States and the CFTC. She found many of the contracts are likely swaps and that the parts of Illinois law regulating what can be sold, where and to whom are likely preempted. She held off on Illinois's share of transaction fees pending more briefing. The proposed injunction order is due October 29. Sources: Docket: KalshiEX v. Raoul Docket: Coinbase v. Raoul Chicago Sun-Times (Oct. 5)
• Oct 2, 2026 · Ohio orders 10 more platforms to stop offering sports contracts. Citing the Sixth Circuit ruling, the Ohio Casino Control Commission sent cease-and-desist letters to Coinbase, Gemini Titan, Moomoo Financial, Novig, Plus500US, Polymarket, ProphetX, Robinhood Derivatives, Underdog Predict and Webull Financial. They have 14 days, to October 16, to confirm in writing that they have stopped. These are regulator letters, not lawsuits, so there is no court docket and they are not counted in our totals. Sources: Legal Sports Report (Oct. 5) InGame
• Sep 25, 2026 · Sixth Circuit rules against Kalshi in Ohio and Tennessee. States can apply their gambling laws to Kalshi's sports contracts, the court held, widening the split with the Third Circuit. Sources: Reuters Opinion (PDF)
• Sep 24, 2026 · New York sues Polymarket, and Polymarket sues back. New York's attorney general and governor sued QCX LLC (Polymarket US) in state court, alleging an unlicensed gambling operation and seeking an injunction, restitution and fines of three times its gains. Polymarket moved the case to federal court in Manhattan and filed its own suit against the attorney general and members of the state Gaming Commission, arguing federal law preempts state gambling law. Both are before Judge Ronnie Abrams as related cases. Sources: NY Attorney General Docket: James v. QCX Docket: QCX v. James

20 states are in federal court with Kalshi, Polymarket, Crypto.com or Robinhood (a state agency, official, attorney general or city is a party): Arizona, Connecticut, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin. The state-by-state table below shows each one’s cases and latest ruling or action.

Key dates ahead

Related federal cases outside our headline count

Our headline counts cover suits involving Kalshi, Polymarket, Crypto.com and Robinhood. The federal government (the CFTC, joined by the Justice Department) and Coinbase have brought their own suits against states over the same question. They are listed here for reference from CourtListener and CFTC announcements, and are not in our totals, chart, map or CSV.

Key findings

• The fight moved to court in 2025 and exploded in 2026. Before 2025 our table has 1 federal case (KALSHIEX LLC v. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION, over election contracts). 24 more were filed in 2025 and 59 so far in 2026.
• 46 of the cases are platforms and governments suing each other: 28 brought by a platform against state officials (mostly arguing federal law preempts state gambling rules) and 18 brought by a state, attorney general or city against a platform. States involved: Arizona, Connecticut, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin.
• By platform: Kalshi is a party in 54, Polymarket is a party in 15, Robinhood is a party in 9, Crypto.com is a party in 7 (some cases name more than one).
• 3 tribal nations have sued Kalshi over sports contracts under federal Indian gaming law.
• 32 suits come from customers or loss-recovery companies (26 individual or class actions, 6 by “Gambling Recovery” LLCs). We do not name individual plaintiffs.
• 27 private suits are listed separately and left out of the totals above, because they are about a customer’s own dispute or a marketing complaint, not about whether prediction markets are legal. 25 are near-identical suits by individual Polymarket.com users against its operator, Adventure One QSS, that landed in Manhattan federal court between Sep 29 and Oct 2, 2026. In the 5 whose details are indexed so far, the user first sued in New York state court (also naming Polymarket’s CEO and marketing chief) and Polymarket moved the case to federal court, citing the federal law on international arbitration agreements. The other 20 show only a caption so far and are flagged ⚠. One more Polymarket.com user suit, dated Jul 31, 2026, is in federal court in N.D. Ill.; only its caption is public, so it is flagged ⚠. One is a proposed class action over Kalshi’s referral text messages in Washington, brought by a private resident, not the state.
• 61 of 84 district-court dockets are still open. A closed docket can mean dismissal, remand to state court, transfer or a final ruling, so check the docket before describing the outcome.
• Legislatures: we found 80 bills in 15 states and Congress that address prediction markets (48 written specifically about them). 6 states enacted one in 2026: Connecticut (HB05229); Illinois (SB3019); Kentucky (HB757, HB869, HB904); Minnesota (HF4240, SF3432, SF4760); North Carolina (S257); Tennessee (HB2079). Congress has 32 bills; none has become law.
• 3,535 public comments were posted on the CFTC’s “Prediction Markets” docket on regulations.gov, the most of any CFTC prediction-market docket this year.

The lawsuits are piling up

State by state

Every verified federal case

Newest first. Case names are the CourtListener captions, except that individual plaintiffs are shown as “[Individual plaintiff]”. Rows marked ⚠ have a detail we could not fully confirm from the docket; the note says which.

• Platform v. state (28): An exchange or broker sues state officials, usually arguing federal commodities law (the CEA) preempts state gambling law.
• State or city v. platform (18): A state, attorney general or city sues the platform (many are filed in state court and removed to federal court).
• Tribe v. platform (3): A tribal nation sues, typically under IGRA, over sports contracts offered on tribal land.
• Platform v. CFTC (1): Kalshi’s challenge to the CFTC’s 2023 order blocking election contracts.
• Private / class action (26): Individual customers or putative classes suing a platform.
• Loss-recovery suit (6): “Gambling Recovery” LLCs suing under state loss-recovery statutes.
• Trademark / IP (2): Brand owners suing over names or logos used in markets.

Private suits listed separately (27)

These federal cases involve a prediction-market platform but are one customer’s own dispute or a marketing complaint, not a fight over whether the contracts are legal, so they are not in the totals, chart or map above. Individual plaintiffs are not named.

• Individual user suit (26): One customer suing a platform over their own account or trades.
• Consumer marketing suit (1): Consumer-protection claims about advertising or marketing messages, not about the contracts themselves.

State and federal bills

80 bills that address prediction markets, sorted by state. We read each title and, where needed, the bill text, and dropped 12 search hits that only use phrases like “event contracts” in another sense (for example budget bills about event-hosting or insurance contracts).

CFTC rulemaking: public comment counts

Comments posted on regulations.gov for 2026 CFTC dockets on prediction markets and event contracts. Counts are what regulations.gov reports and can lag mailed or late submissions. Earlier CFTC event-contract proposals used the CFTC’s own comment portal and are not counted here.

Download the data

Cases CSVBills CSV

Cases CSV columns: docket id, caption (individuals redacted), platform, type, state, court, level, docket number, filed, closed, duplicate of, verification flag, counted in headline totals, note, CourtListener URL. Bills CSV includes LegiScan status and links. Chart image: PNG.

Methodology

1. Finding cases. We search the CourtListener RECAP archive of federal dockets for every case whose name includes Kalshi/KalshiEX, Polymarket/Blockratize/QCX (which does business as Polymarket US)/Adventure One QSS (Polymarket.com), North American Derivatives Exchange or Foris DAX (Crypto.com), or Robinhood Derivatives, plus Robinhood cases mentioning prediction markets.
2. Hand verification. Each docket was reviewed for the parties, court, docket number and filing date as shown on CourtListener, and classified by who is suing whom. Unrelated cases that match a company name (for example patent suits against Crypto.com or a civil forfeiture involving a Crypto.com account) are excluded. Duplicate dockets for the same case are listed but not double-counted. Suits about one customer’s own account or trades, and marketing complaints, are listed in a separate table and left out of the totals. Anything we could not confirm is flagged ⚠.
3. Status. “Closed” is the docket’s termination date in CourtListener, not a judgment on the merits. Appeals are listed separately from district-court cases.
4. What is missing. State-court lawsuits, state criminal cases and administrative cease-and-desist orders are not in this federal dataset (major regulator actions are described in “Where the courts stand” but not counted), and RECAP only holds dockets someone has pulled from PACER, so very new filings can be missing for a few days. Suits brought by Coinbase or by the United States and the CFTC against states are outside the four platforms this dataset covers; the ones we have checked are listed separately above and not counted.
5. Where the courts stand. The rulings, Supreme Court docket entries and deadlines in that section are written by hand from the opinions, the Supreme Court’s online docket and CourtListener, with the check date shown. The list of still-pending appeals is computed from the case table.
6. Bills. We search LegiScan for “prediction market(s)”, “event contract(s)”, Kalshi and Polymarket in the 2025–2026 sessions, read every hit, and keep only bills with a substantive prediction-market provision. “Enacted” is LegiScan status 4 (passed and signed or otherwise became law). Tennessee’s HB2079/SB1992 are companion bills counted as one law.
7. Comments. Comment counts come from the regulations.gov API.
8. Updates. A script re-checks every docket’s status, bill statuses and comment counts. New dockets and bills it finds go to a review queue and appear here only after a person verifies them (0 items awaiting review at the last update).

This is a research tracker, not legal advice. Allegations in complaints are claims, not findings. Corrections: contact us with the docket link.

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Data sources: prices and volumes come from the public APIs of Kalshi and Polymarket, with court records from CourtListener, bills from LegiScan and comment counts from regulations.gov. All trademarks belong to their owners. PredictionScout is independent and not affiliated with any exchange. Nothing here is investment, betting, or legal advice.