Kalshi sues Illinois over new law, claiming state-level prediction market regulation conflicts with federal law

According to Cryptopolitan, the prediction market platform Kalshi has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, challenging the newly signed SB3019 bill in the state. The bill requires prediction market platforms to obtain state-level licenses and imposes a 0.2% tax on digital asset transactions involving Illinois customers, set to take effect on July 1. Kalshi argues that federal law grants the CFTC exclusive jurisdiction over exchange-traded derivatives, and that additional state regulatory requirements conflict with the Commodity Exchange Act.

If Kalshi withdraws sports event contracts from Illinois to comply with state law, it would directly violate the CFTC's uniformity requirement; if it continues to operate without a license, it would violate state law, and implementing geographic blocking technology would be costly. This lawsuit is the latest case in the dispute over prediction market jurisdiction between the CFTC and various states, with the CFTC having sued nine states to assert federal authority.