U.S. court curbs Illinois sports betting rules for Kalshi contracts

A federal court in northern Illinois partly granted injunction requests by Kalshi, Coinbase and others, blocking Illinois from applying state sports betting licensing rules to some of Kalshi’s sports event contracts. The court found the contracts are likely to qualify as swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act and therefore fall under federal law. It reserved judgment on whether Illinois can apply prediction market trading fees. The ruling is a preliminary decision issued before a final judgment on the merits.