NFL, 39 States Back NJ Push for SCOTUS Kalshi Review
A rare sports-league and state AG coalition argues federal law shouldn't override state sports-betting authority.
The NFL and attorneys general from 39 states plus the District of Columbia filed amicus briefs this week urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up New Jersey's legal challenge against prediction market platform Kalshi, according to SBC Americas.
Why It Matters
This coalition represents an extraordinary convergence of interests: professional sports leagues and state governments both arguing that federal commodities law does not pre-empt state authority over event-based contracts. If the Supreme Court declines to hear the case, lower-court precedent permitting Kalshi to offer sports-event contracts under CFTC oversight could stand — effectively bypassing state-level sports betting licensing regimes entirely. For regulated sportsbooks, that outcome threatens to open a federally sanctioned competitor lane that avoids state tax and licensing costs. For states, it means lost licensing revenue and weakened consumer-protection frameworks.
Context
Kalshi won a landmark federal appeals court ruling allowing it to list contracts on the outcomes of congressional elections and, subsequently, sports events, on the grounds that the CFTC — not state gambling regulators — holds jurisdiction. New Jersey challenged that ruling, arguing it erodes the state sports-betting rights the Supreme Court itself affirmed in Murphy v. NCAA (2018). The NFL's brief, filed Thursday, and the states' brief, led by Ohio and filed Wednesday, both contend that the federal commodities framework was never intended to swallow state gambling law wholesale.
What's Next
The Supreme Court must decide whether to grant certiorari — a decision that could come within weeks to months of the petition's submission. A grant would set up a high-stakes merits battle that could redraw the boundary between CFTC-regulated prediction markets and state-licensed sports betting across the country.
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