Kalshi Banned In Nevada Goes As Temporary Restraining Order Goes Into Effect

By Bill Speros

Mar 20th, 2026 3:33 PM EDT

The regulatory war over prediction markets escalated sharply Friday. Kalshi was banned in Nevada as a judge's ruling went into effect. Nevada becomes the first state to lock out the platform.

The First Judicial District Court of Nevada issued a 14-day temporary restraining order (TRO) against KALSHIEX LLC. It prohibits the company from offering its derivatives exchange and prediction market products — including event-based contracts tied to sports, elections, and entertainment — without first obtaining the proper state gaming licenses. Kalshi's Ban In Nevada order took effect immediately.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board, which brought the action, made its position crystal clear. Chairman Mike Dreitzer said in a statement that Kalshi "has repeatedly stated that its operations are legal in 50 states, which is clearly not true," adding that the Board has a statutory duty to protect the public and ensure that wagering in Nevada takes place only through licensed operators.

A Legal Battle That's Been Brewing

This isn't a sudden development. Nevada regulators sent Kalshi a cease-and-desist letter over its sports-related event contracts more than a year ago. The case has since bounced between state and federal courts in what Kalshi itself described as a "jurisdictional quagmire." Until Friday's ruling, the company had been allowed to continue operating while that legal tug-of-war played out.

Gaming attorney Daniel Wallach believes the judge will eventually convert this 14-day order into a case-long preliminary injunction. That means Kalshi could be locked out of Nevada for the foreseeable future.

A Rough Week for Kalshi

The Nevada ban is just one piece of a brutal stretch in court the prediction market platform. Earlier this week, the Arizona attorney general filed criminal charges against Kalshi, accusing the company of operating an illegal gambling business. That came just days after Kalshi had preemptively sued Arizona regulators in an attempt to block exactly that kind of state-level enforcement. Last week, a federal judge in Ohio denied Kalshi's request for a preliminary injunction that would have shielded it from state gambling regulators there.

However, the company latest valuation placed it being worth $22 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal story published Thursday.

The Bigger Picture

At the heart of all these legal battles is a fundamental disagreement over what prediction markets actually are. Kalshi argues its sports contracts constitute financial instruments. And those swaps are regulated exclusively by the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), not state gambling authorities. The CFTC has backed that position, but states aren't backing down.

Battles remain underway in Ohio, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and beyond. Friday's Nevada ruling signals that the prediction market industry's legal reckoning is far from over. For now, Nevada bettors looking for that kind of action will need to stick to the sportsbook window.

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