Share 
Bonus TL;DR
- The NFL has formally filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up New Jersey’s petition against prediction market Kalshi, joining a massive coalition of 40 states arguing that sports-related event contracts are gambling products that must remain subject to state-level sports betting laws to protect game integrity.
- The high-stakes petition, filed by New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport on September 2, seeks to resolve a massive regulatory loophole: whether platforms like Kalshi can legally bypass all 50 states’ gambling regulations by simply classifying their sports wagers as federally regulated financial “swaps”.
The NFL has filed a brief backing New Jersey’s request for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether companies such as Kalshi can offer sports-related prediction market contracts without complying with state gambling laws.
The filing adds a major sports league to a growing coalition behind New Jersey’s petition, which the state says could settle a jurisdiction fight now playing out in at least 20 states. At the center of the dispute is whether these contracts are illegal sports wagers under state law or federally regulated financial products overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
NFL joins broad state coalition
According to the source report, 40 states are backing New Jersey’s effort to get the Supreme Court to take up the issue. The NFL’s brief came one day after attorneys general from 39 states and Washington, D.C. filed a similar submission.
New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport filed the petition on Sept. 2. In a statement cited by the report, Davenport said, “Companies like Kalshi claim to offer legal sports betting in all 50 states, but they refuse to follow the gambling laws of any state.”
She also argued that states have long regulated gambling to address issues including compulsive gambling, underage gambling and insider trading tied to sports events.
The NFL’s brief, as quoted in the report, said companies such as Kalshi and other designated contract markets claim their sports-related event contracts are “swaps” under federal law and therefore not subject to state sports betting rules. The league said that position would allow operators to offer NFL-related event contracts “without regard to state law.”
Kalshi says federal law preempts state rules
Kalshi disputes the states’ position and argues its products fall under federal oversight. Spokeswoman Dani Lever said Kalshi is “an open, nationwide financial exchange” and “cannot be regulated by 50 different regulators.”
Lever also said both the Third Circuit and the District of New Jersey sided with Kalshi because the CFTC’s exclusive jurisdiction preempts state law.
That conflict has become increasingly important for the gambling industry because prediction markets now operate in all 50 states, including some that have otherwise outlawed gambling, according to the report. The source also says several state gambling laws are currently blocked by federal courts, with dozens of active suits pending.
What comes next
The next key question is whether the Supreme Court will agree to hear New Jersey’s petition. The source report does not say when the court might decide whether to take the case.
If the justices do step in, the case could help determine whether sports-related event contracts remain primarily under federal commodities regulation or whether states can enforce their own gambling laws against those products.
Source: As reported by pressofatlanticcity.com.
