On Wednesday afternoon, mere hours after securing reelection, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed a civil enforcement lawsuit against prediction market Kalshi in state court. The 57-page complaint accuses the platform of offering unregulated and underage gambling within the state’s borders.
READ: Arkansas Civil Lawsuit vs. Kalshi (filed November 4th, 2026)
“Kalshi has built a global business that it calls a prediction market, allowing consumers to wager money on the outcome of just about anything,” stated the Army War College graduate in an official press release published Wednesday.
“You can wager on the outcome of elections, reality competition shows, football games, and much more. It doesn’t take a genius to understand that wagering money on whether the Razorbacks win or lose is gambling. And gambling on an unregulated platform is squarely prohibited by Arkansas law.”
The attorney general added, “Instead of obtaining the licenses, submitting to the oversight, complying with the restrictions, and paying the taxes required of lawful gambling operators in Arkansas, Kalshi opened its platforms to Arkansas consumers, including individuals as young as 18 years old, encouraged them to wager real money on sporting and entertainment events, and profited from those wagers.”
According to page 4 of the November 4th civil suit, Arkansas is requesting that the Independence County Circuit Court hold Kalshi “accountable” for exposing the state’s consumers to gambling-related products. The state also claims that the exchange uses “deceptive and unconscionable practices” to lure users to its event contracts on sports, entertainment, and political outcomes under the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (ADTPA).
Arkansas’ request for relief asks the court to order Kalshi to “restore” in-state users who have “suffered any ascertainable loss” (page 56). The state is also asking for “actual and compensatory damages” that would include “maximum civil penalties” for the platform’s alleged violation of the ADTPA.
Kalshi argues that it is a federally regulated prediction exchange under CFTC “exclusive jurisdiction,” which the platform claims shields it from state enforcement. The CFTC, headed by Chairman Mike Selig, concurs with that stance and has taken legal action against multiple states in an effort to exert its preemptive status over states.
Although Wednesday’s suit was filed in state court, the battle over prediction-market legality is currently playing out nationwide, including in the Eighth Circuit US Court of Appeals, where Arkansas is located. Given the intense pressure led by states that have filed complaints against Kalshi and its sports contracts, an eventual showdown before the US Supreme Court becomes more likely with each week that passes. However, SCOTUS is unlikely to hear one or more related cases before mid-2027 (at the earliest).
Readers who are seeking legal analysis of Wednesday’s court filing against Kalshi are encouraged to read Daniel Wallach’s LinkedIn post that has been updated in the last few hours. Wallach is a Miami Law School professor and sports betting attorney who covers US gaming law as it pertains to both sportsbooks and prediction markets.
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