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On Christmas Eve, Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford announced he co-led a coalition of 37 states and D.C. in filing an amicus brief with the Fourth Circuit defending states’ long-standing authority to regulate sports betting within their borders.
"Nevada is the foundational home of sports wagering, and states, not federal financial regulators, have decades of protecting customers, preserving the integrity of sporting events, and addressing real world harms such as underage gambling," Nevada's AG wrote.
That was a direct knock on prediction markets like Kalshi, which claim they can operate in all 50 states as a result of being officially regulated in the United States as a Designated Contract Market (DCM) by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
In late 2025 the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued an Amended Order of Designation allowing Polymarket to operate as a regulated derivatives/prediction market under federal law. This makes Polymarket a CFTC-regulated Designated Contract Market (similar to other regulated exchanges).
Ford's letter continues: "I am proud to lead this effort with Ohio and a bipartisan coalition of states to make clear that Congress did not quietly take away state's authority to regulate sports wagering, and that allowing unregulated betting nationwide would upset that balance without clear authorization".
Kalshi and other prediction markets explicitly claim that their platforms are not gambling but instead financial trading. They operate like a derivatives exchange where users trade contracts that pay out based on event outcomes.
Kalshi emphasizes that they do not set odds or profit from players losing like bookmakers. Instead, Kalshi charges transaction fees and matches buyers to sellers in a market.
Kalshi is actively litigating multiple cases across the U.S. where states and tribes say its sports-linked prediction contracts amount to unauthorized gambling.
The company is yet to respond to the Amicus Brief filing last week.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
