KalshiEX has sued Missouri officials in federal court, seeking to block the state from enforcing a cease-and-desist order against its sports event contracts. The case was filed on 27 October in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri as KalshiEX LLC v. Hanaway et al., No. 4:26-cv-01860, according to the court-stamped complaint.
Kalshi argues that its contracts trade on a federally designated contract market and fall within the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's exclusive jurisdiction under the Commodity Exchange Act. It asks the court for declaratory and injunctive relief preventing Missouri from applying state gambling laws to those products. These are the company's legal claims; the Missouri court has not ruled on their merits.
The dispute follows letters sent by the state in September. The Missouri Attorney General's Office said sports event contracts constitute unlicensed sports wagering and directed Kalshi and five other operators to stop offering them to Missouri users unless licensed by the Missouri Gaming Commission. The state also raised concerns about access by users under 21. Kalshi disputes the state's authority over its exchange.
The complaint highlights a split among federal courts. Kalshi cites a Third Circuit decision supporting federal preemption for contracts traded on its market. It also acknowledges decisions in the Sixth and Ninth Circuits that took a different view of whether its sports products qualify as swaps protected from state enforcement. The Missouri case falls within the Eighth Circuit, where the complaint says the central issue has not yet been resolved.
SBC Americas reported that Kalshi characterises compliance with the state's demand as incompatible with its federally regulated operation. The litigation now asks a court to decide that jurisdictional question; it does not itself establish that either side's interpretation is correct.
