Kalshi Sports Contracts Ruled Against by Appeals Court, One Circuit Named in Single Source

A federal appeals court has ruled against prediction market operators on sports-related event contracts, confirming that state regulators retain authority over how those products are treated. Two outlets, CoinDesk and CoinGape, reported the outcome within hours of each other. Only one of them published the procedural detail behind it.

CoinGape identified the court as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, said the ruling favored the Nevada Gaming Control Board, and reported that the court rejected requests for injunctive relief filed by Kalshi, Crypto.com and Robinhood. Those three names, the regulator, and the specific circuit appear in that single report.

What Two Sources Actually Confirm

CoinDesk’s headline states that the ruling “confirms state powers over prediction markets” and names Kalshi directly, which lines up with CoinGape’s account of the outcome. The core fact, a federal appeals court siding with a state regulator against prediction market platforms, is corroborated across both.

When pulled for this piece, CoinDesk’s underlying article page returned only a browser security checkpoint rather than full text. That means CoinDesk’s framing of the case, including its claim of a looming circuit split, comes through as a headline and summary only. It could not be checked against the outlet’s own reporting body.

Sports Bets, Not Derivatives

The legal fight centers on whether sports-outcome event contracts sold by Kalshi, Robinhood and Crypto.com count as federally regulated derivatives under Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversight, or as sports wagers subject to state gambling law. Nevada has argued for the latter. Per CoinGape, the Ninth Circuit’s decision to deny injunctive relief effectively lets that state position stand for now.

CoinDesk’s summary raises the possibility that this ruling puts one federal circuit at odds with another on the same legal question, which would normally push the issue toward the U.S. Supreme Court. That claim did not carry independent confirmation in the second report, and no docket number, date of ruling, or specific conflicting decision was available in either source.

What Remains Unverified

Neither report included a statement from Kalshi, Robinhood or Crypto.com, nor any indication of whether the companies plan to appeal further or pause Nevada sports contracts in response. The exact date of the ruling and the panel of judges involved were also absent from both accounts as reviewed.

For now, the safest summary is narrow: a federal appeals court denied injunctive relief to prediction market operators in a dispute with a state gambling regulator over sports contracts. The circuit’s identity, the regulator’s name, and the list of three affected platforms rest on one accessible account. The broader claim of a brewing circuit split rests on the other.

Sources

• coindesk.com
• coingape.com