Connecticut has sued Kalshi and is seeking a court injunction to stop the company from offering unlicensed sports wagers to state residents. Attorney General William Tong, DCP Commissioner Bryan T. Cafferelli and Gov. Ned Lamont announced the case, saying Kalshi’s sports event contracts amount to gambling and should not be available in Connecticut without state approval.
Kalshi runs an online event-contract exchange built around yes-no propositions about whether future events will happen. Connecticut says the company’s offerings include wagers on whether a team or player will win a sporting event or series, how many wins a team will have in a season, league rankings, points scored in a match, point spreads and player statistics.
The state had already taken action in December 2025, when the Department of Consumer Protection’s Gaming Division ordered Kalshi and two other sites to stop advertising, offering, promoting or otherwise making available sports event contracts or any other form of unlicensed online gambling to Connecticut residents. That order also required the platforms to let residents withdraw any funds they were holding. Kalshi then sued Connecticut, arguing that its prediction contracts are swaps regulated solely by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. United States District Judge Vernon Oliver denied Kalshi’s request for preliminary relief, and the company appealed to the Second Circuit.
Tong said sports event contracts are no different from sports betting and are not shielded by federal law from Connecticut’s consumer protection rules. He said those laws exist to protect minors, prevent problem gambling and ensure that money and personal information are safe. Lamont said Connecticut legalized sports wagering in 2021 to create a safe, responsibly regulated market with tribal partners, not to open a free-for-all. Cafferelli said the state had been tracking prediction markets since their inception and viewed them as a risk to the public.
Cafferelli also said the companies have been trying to persuade people that they are offering safe investments when, in his view, they are indistinguishable from sports wagering. He said the markets target minors and people who have opted out of gaming, and that the Department of Consumer Protection will continue to pursue anyone operating in violation of state gaming laws.
As covered in July, New York also sued Kalshi over similar sports-linked contracts. A Paul Weiss memo said a divided Third Circuit panel held in April that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over sports-related event contracts offered by Kalshi.
