Massachusetts AG Andrea Joy Campbell Files Amended Suit Against Kalshi Over Sports Betting

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell filed an amended complaint against prediction-market platform Kalshi, extending the state’s legal challenge over Kalshi’s sports betting service.

The amended complaint, allowed by Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Peter Krupp to be filed as a 71-page submission, added allegations involving minors, including that Kalshi “targeted users under 21 and took few meaningful steps to prevent them from using the platform.”

Bellingham Herald

Campbell’s earlier September 2025 lawsuit argued Kalshi must obtain approval from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to comply with Massachusetts online sports betting rules.

In January, a preliminary injunction barred Kalshi’s sports event contract service while the case is under review, and the CFTC asserted “exclusive jurisdiction” over prediction markets in a brief filed in April.

CFTC Commissioner Summer Mersinger said Congress gave the agency sole authority to regulate commodity derivatives markets, including prediction markets, adding, “To states seeking to nullify federal law and strip away that authority over this market, I say again: see you in court.”

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission added New York to a growing list of states it is suing to curb pushback against prediction markets, arguing the activity should be treated as a state-regulated game.

The CFTC filed suit in New York on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and its complaint argues federal law “designates the CFTC as the federal agency with exclusive authority over the regulation of futures contracts, options and swaps traded on federally regulated exchanges.”

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The CFTC’s move followed New York’s earlier action to target platforms operated by Coinbase and Gemini, and it also referenced that last year New York targeted Kalshi by demanding it cease its sports-betting platform.

In the same dispute, 37 state attorneys general including New York Attorney General Letitia James signed a legal brief in Kalshi’s Massachusetts litigation supporting that “Kalshi's aggressive preemption theory threatens the long-standing ability of states to protect their citizens in this field.”

James and New York Governor Kathy Hochul said they were enforcing New York’s gambling laws, with Hochul and James stating, “When gaming platforms, including prediction markets, violate our laws, we will not hesitate to hold them accountable.”

A bipartisan bill described as the “Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act” would prevent entities registered with the CFTC from listing contracts that resemble sports betting or casino games, according to Cointribune’s account of a March 23, 2026 presentation by Adam Schiff and John Curtis.

Cointribune said the bill’s political message is that these contracts are “bets offered at the federal level across the fifty states,” sometimes bypassing local gaming frameworks and consumer protections.

Separately, Cointelegraph reported that national gaming, tribal organizations and labor groups called on U.S. senators to add language “that explicitly prohibits event contracts tied to sports and casino-style gaming” to the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act under Senate review.

Cointelegraph also quoted CFTC Chair Michael Selig saying, “Congress has entrusted the CFTC with the sole authority to regulate commodity derivatives markets, including prediction markets,” framing the dispute as one over federal authority rather than state gambling rules.

In Massachusetts, the legal fight continued after the court issued a preliminary injunction barring Kalshi from offering sports event contracts, while Cointelegraph noted Kalshi had been blocked in some jurisdictions but still had support from the CFTC.