Published on: December 5, 2025, 03:58h.
Updated on: December 5, 2025, 03:58h.
- Kalshi sports event contracts remain operational in Connecticut for the time being
- Kalshi is filing for an injunction from Connecticut regulators
This week, Connecticut emerged as the latest state to instruct Kalshi and other prediction markets offering sports event contracts to cease operations.
In response, Kalshi has filed a lawsuit against the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection Gaming Division, the authority that issued the cease-and-desist order against these prediction markets. Kalshi is pursuing a preliminary injunction, and the state has agreed to a provisional timeline, according to notable gaming lawyer Daniel Wallach.
The federal court proceedings mandate that Connecticut “will refrain from enforcing” action against Kalshi until the Connecticut District Court reviews Kalshi’s injunction request. The state’s Consumer Protection Department is required to respond to Kalshi’s motion by January 9, 2026, and Kalshi must provide a “reply in further support” by January 30.
Wallach notes that oral arguments are anticipated to take place in February. Meanwhile, Kalshi sports traders in Connecticut can continue their activities as usual.
Disputed Contracts
Kalshi along with competitors such as Robinhood, Crypto.com, and the recently launched Fanatics Markets assert that they function as financial exchanges providing derivative trading. They possess Designated Contract Market licenses from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, contending that state gaming regulators lack jurisdiction over them.
Connecticut now joins numerous states asserting that prediction markets offering contracts tied to sports outcomes infringe state gaming regulations. The CT Department of Consumer Protection Gaming Division announced that such platforms with sports contracts are unlawful.
“Only licensed operators are permitted to offer sports wagering in Connecticut. None of these entities hold a license to operate such wagering here, and even if they did, their contracts conflict with various other state laws and regulations, including providing wagers to individuals below the age of 21,” stated DCP Commissioner Bryan T. Cafferelli.
“These platforms misleadingly advertise their services as legal; however, our laws are unequivocal,” added DCP Gaming Director Kris Gilman. “A prediction market wager is not an investment.”
In contrast, Kalshi and similar platforms argue that engaging in event contracts should not be classified as gambling.
In a comparable ongoing federal case in Nevada, District Court Judge Andrew Gordon ruled in November in favor of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, deeming sports event contracts as unregulated and illegal sports betting.
“No one regarded sports bets as commodities or saw them as excluded from commodities or swaps until some ingenious individuals at Kalshi did,” Judge Gordon concluded.
“Kalshi’s interpretation could subject all sports betting nationwide to the jurisdiction of the CFTC. This perspective disrupts decades of federal authority related to gaming regulation, contradicts Congressional intent … and cannot stand,” Gordon elaborated.
Investing vs. Gambling
So, is investing akin to gambling? Warren Buffett, renowned as the most accomplished investor in American history, connected some facets of modern investing with casino gambling in his 2024 assessment. Buffett argues that mobile trading platforms like Robinhood and rampant short-term trading have transformed segments of the stock market into a gambling arena.
“For various reasons, current markets display far more casino-like tendencies than they did in my youth,” Buffett highlighted in his 2024 annual shareholder letter.
Charlie Munger, Buffett’s late partner, remarked in 2022 that younger individuals and speculators have a penchant for gambling.
“The issue is, it’s akin to heroin,” Munger stated. “It’s that addictive. It’s gone haywire.”
This Saturday, Kalshi participants, or should we say traders, can bet on whether the temperature in Chicago will hit 32 degrees Fahrenheit, along with what NFL announcers will comment during the Chicago Bears vs. Green Bay Packers matchup.