# New Jersey Asks Supreme Court to Review Kalshi Sports Contract Ruling

By Riza Dagoc

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/regulation/26687
Published: 2026-10-04T20:06:33.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-04T20:06:33.000Z
Section: Regulation

> The state argues that sports event contracts are not swaps under federal commodities law and that federal law does not preempt state gambling rules. The Supreme Court has not agreed to hear the case.

New Jersey has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling favoring Kalshi, extending a dispute over whether federal commodities law or state gambling rules apply to sports event contracts. The court has not agreed to hear the case.

In a petition filed Sept. 2, New Jersey argued that sports event contracts are not swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act and that federal law does not preempt state sports-gambling laws. The petition challenges a Third Circuit ruling in Kalshi’s favor.

Lower courts have reached different conclusions in related disputes. On Oct. 2, U.S. District Judge Martha M. Pacold found that the contracts at issue in an Illinois case were likely swaps under the act. She granted requests for preliminary injunctions in part and continued them in part, leaving some matters for further proceedings.

In a Nevada case, a Ninth Circuit panel on Aug. 28 affirmed the dissolution of an injunction that had protected Kalshi’s sports event contracts from state regulation. The panel rejected Kalshi’s broad reading of federal law. That decision concerns Nevada and does not resolve New Jersey’s petition.

The cases raise questions about whether federal commodities law and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s authority cover sports event contracts, or whether states may regulate them as gambling. The cited rulings are preliminary or limited to particular cases and jurisdictions; they do not establish a nationwide rule for all prediction-market contracts.