Kalshi Is Compared to Sports Betting by Massachusetts High Court

Justices of Massachusetts’ highest court probed what substantially distinguishes Kalshi Inc.‘s sports prediction markets and gambling in arguments Monday, with members peppering the company’s counsel with questions about whether Congress explicitly preempted something that states historically have regulated.

Multiple members of the seven-justice Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court appeared skeptical of the difference between between sports gambling and what Kalshi calls its hedging instruments. This may presage a win for Massachusetts amid the nationwide legal battle between states, prediction market companies, and the US agency overseeing derivatives markets about regulatory control and preemption.

Prediction market companies say that their ...