Kalshi Wins Breathing Room on Massachusetts Ban During Appeal

A ruling requiring Kalshi to shut down its sports prediction contract offerings in Massachusetts won’t take effect until after an appeals court considers the company’s challenge to the ban.

Judge Sabita Singh of the Massachusetts Appeals Court granted the company’s request to delay the first-in-the-nation ruling shutting down the prediction market until a panel of judges can review the decision.

The stay was ordered “without suggesting any view on the merits of the disposition of this litigation,” Singh said in a brief docket entry Tuesday. The judge also fast-tracked the court’s review.

“We welcome the court’s decision to grant a stay on these critically important issues,” Kalshi spokeswoman Elisabeth Diana said on a statement Wednesday.

Prediction market companies, including Kalshi and Polymarket, are battling to protect their sports-related contracts, which state gaming regulations are targeting as unlicensed, illegal sports betting. In Massachusetts alone, Robinhood and Polymarket have sued to block similar actions by the attorney general.

The litigation has squared up a jurisdictional face-off between state and federal authorities, as the companies insist that federal oversight of their markets by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission displaces state enforcement efforts.

The agency on Tuesday stepped into an appeal by Crypto.com of Nevada’s efforts to enforce its gaming laws, telling the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that states shouldn’t be permitted to “invade” its exclusive jurisdiction over the contract markets.

While it has gained traction in other jurisdictions, Kalshi’s attempt to advance that similar preemption argument before Suffolk Superior Judge Christopher Barry-Smith failed to carry the day.

The judge granted Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s (D) preliminary injunction request. He ruled that Kalshi’s understanding of the sweep of the CFTC’s oversight was “overly broad,” and he explained Congress didn’t clearly say it was displacing traditional state police powers, including gambling oversight.

Barry-Smith also later denied Kalshi’s request to delay the injunction until after its appeal.

Representatives for Campbell weren’t immediately available for comment.

Kalshi is represented by Milbank LLP and Foley Hoag LLP.

The case is Commonwealth v. KalshiEX LLC, Mass. App. Ct., No. 2026-J-0143, order issued 2/17/26.