The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued Kentucky in federal court on June 23 to block the state’s crackdown on Kalshi and Polymarket – its ninth such suit since April, and the first against a state with a Republican attorney general.
Every prior CFTC suit hit a state with a Democratic attorney general, a pattern critics had flagged. Kentucky breaks the trend: Governor Andy Beshear is a Democrat, but Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman is the one who sued Kalshi and Polymarket on June 17, alleging they run unlicensed sportsbooks. That suit also named Kalshi’s partners Coinbase, Robinhood and Webull as affiliates.
For now, the CFTC is fighting state by state to hold a single national rulebook together. Kentucky shows the fight no longer breaks cleanly along party lines – and that the platforms’ biggest threat is still a patchwork of states that see a sportsbook where Washington sees a swap.
