A King County Superior Court judge in Washington has issued a final injunction ordering prediction market platform Kalshi to stop offering, accepting or facilitating most wagers in the state, the Washington State Attorney General's Office announced on August 13, 2026.
The restrictions cover sports, elections, politics, entertainment, culture, technology, science and "mentions" markets, effectively shutting down the majority of Kalshi's event-contract activity in Washington. The order follows a preliminary July ruling that Kalshi likely violated Washington's Gambling Act and Consumer Protection Act by operating an illegal gambling platform in the state.
Under the court order, Kalshi must also stop advertising the restricted products and implement IP- and residency-based geofencing by August 19, followed by a more robust multi-source geofencing system by September 2. The geofencing measures are designed to prevent Washington residents from accessing restricted markets.
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said Kalshi had promoted wagers across sports, elections, natural disasters and geopolitical events. "Under this order, Kalshi is banned from offering wagers on most of those topics in Washington," Brown stated.
The injunction does not remove Kalshi entirely from Washington. Contracts related to commodities, climate, economics and finance may continue to be offered, creating a regulatory divide between markets the court considers closer to financial derivatives and those viewed as gambling.
The Washington Court of Appeals denied Kalshi's request to stay the injunction, leaving the restrictions in force while the underlying litigation proceeds. The company will need to comply with the new geofencing requirements while continuing its legal battle.
The ruling is part of a broader regulatory campaign against prediction markets across the United States. Baltimore also sued Kalshi and Polymarket on Thursday over allegations that their products amount to illegal gambling. Kalshi has argued that its contracts are federally regulated derivatives overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and that the Commodity Exchange Act gives the CFTC exclusive authority over the products. The CFTC has backed the federal jurisdiction argument in related disputes, increasing tension between state authorities and the federal derivatives regulator.
The jurisdictional dispute could determine how prediction markets are regulated nationwide and whether sports-related event contracts can continue expanding through federally supervised exchanges.
