Illinois Injunction Shields Prediction Markets, Operators Pull Back in Utah
A federal judge in Illinois has barred state officials from enforcing gambling laws against CFTC-regulated prediction markets. U.S. District Judge Martha Pacold's preliminary injunction covers licensing, taxation and enforcement.
The order blocks Illinois from requiring a sports betting license or collecting its transaction tax on exchange wagers: 1.75% on the first five million trades, rising to 3.5% after that. The tax was part of the state's FY2027 budget. Pacold's October ruling explicitly added fees and taxes to the list of measures Illinois cannot apply to sports event contracts. The state has appealed to the Seventh Circuit, which now has five prediction-market cases pending: three from Illinois, two from Wisconsin.
Separately, DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics and PrizePicks have scaled back their offerings in Utah. PrizePicks kept only its fantasy sports product; DraftKings and FanDuel limited themselves to financial event contracts. The moves followed Utah's criminal charges against Kalshi and its founders. Fanatics is set to stop accepting trades in the state on November 4.
Kalshi Faces SCOTUS Deadline and New York Subpoena
The U.S. Supreme Court gave Kalshi until December 7 to respond to New Jersey's petition challenging a Third Circuit ruling in the exchange's favor. Paul Clement, the former solicitor general who lost Murphy v. NCAA in 2018 — the case that struck down the federal ban on state-level sports betting — will represent Kalshi.
In New York, Kalshi is fighting a subpoena from Attorney General Letitia James seeking records on advertising, marketing, proprietary trading and communications with regulators. Kalshi says the request duplicates issues already in litigation in the state's enforcement case. The attorney general's office says it is pursuing a separate inquiry into potentially misleading advertising and fraud.
On November 2 in Brooklyn, former Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz go on trial over alleged bribes to manipulate individual pitches. Prosecutors say the pair fed inside information to bettors who won at least $460,000 through proposition bets. Both have pleaded not guilty. Jury selection starts this week; the trial is expected to run a month.
Oklahoma's ban on dual-currency sweepstakes casinos took effect November 1, after lawmakers overrode Governor Kevin Stitt's veto in May. Chumba Casino, Stake, High 5 Casino and McLuck have exited the state. Modo switched to a free-to-play, Gold Coin-only model.
