Kalshi has asked a federal judge to prevent Minnesota from implementing the nation’s first-ever prediction market ban, joining forces with President Donald Trump’s administration in a rapidly escalating regulatory battle against state governments.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Kalshi—America’s top prediction market platform by trading volume—urged the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota to intervene and prevent the state from implementing a recently passed law that makes creating, operating, or promoting prediction markets a felony crime.
The law, signed by Gov. Tim Walz last week, is set to go into effect on August 1.
Minnesota’s prediction market ban is the latest move in an all-out regulatory war between industry platforms and state governments over the future of the lucrative new sector.
In this week’s lawsuit, Kalshi followed the Trump administration’s lead, arguing the Minnesota ban would penalize federally permissible activity.
Come August, Kalshi “will be deemed a felon in Minnesota for offering certain event contracts on its federally authorized DCM that are entirely lawful under federal law—as confirmed by the federal agency with exclusive jurisdiction to make that determination,” the complaint reads.
Last month, President Trump told reporters he was “never much in favor” of prediction markets, after a U.S. soldier was arrested for allegedly using one to make hundreds of thousands of dollars placing wagers with confidential information.
