Prediction-market operator Kalshi filed a federal lawsuit on October 23 seeking to prevent Louisiana officials from applying state gambling laws to its sports-event contracts. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.
Kalshi argues that its exchange is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and that the Commodity Exchange Act gives the federal regulator exclusive jurisdiction over contracts traded on designated contract markets. The company says Louisiana officials have signaled that they consider its sports contracts illegal gambling and may bring an enforcement action.
The filing asks for declaratory relief and temporary, preliminary and permanent injunctions. Those requests are Kalshi's legal position, not a court ruling. Louisiana has not yet filed a response in the case, and SBC Americas reported that the state offices it contacted had not commented by publication time.
The dispute follows Louisiana's expansion of its digital-gambling enforcement framework. The state's official record for House Bill 883 documents legislation enacted in 2026 that amended gambling-by-computer provisions. Kalshi contends that applying those rules to a federally designated exchange would conflict with federal law. The court must now decide whether the threatened state enforcement is preempted.
