The Nevada attorney general’s office has filed a “friend of the court” filing on behalf of the state of Maryland in its continued fight against prediction markets that take sports bets that the state says violate Nevada gambling laws.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford on Monday formally filed a 49-page amicus brief co-sponsored by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on behalf of 38 states and the District of Columbia.
Ford’s letter supports the state of Maryland which, like Nevada, has been sued by KalshiEx LLC, which offers prediction markets on the outcome of sporting events that states argue are very similar to sports betting.
The Maryland case from the US District Court in Maryland has been appealed by Kalshi to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Ford’s office is pursuing a similar lawsuit in Nevada’s U.S. District Court.
In Nevada, U.S. District Judge Andrew Gordon in November granted a state motion to dissolve a preliminary injunction that had allowed Kalshi to offer contracts on sporting events until the case was decided in court. While the Nevada Gaming Control Board negotiated terms that prevent two other companies that offer prediction markets from operating — Robinhood and crypto.com — Kalshi refused to comply and continues to offer contracts in the state pending its Nevada appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court.
Ford explained in his brief that Kalshi began offering online sports betting on its online platform in January.
“This activity, unsurprisingly, caught the attention of the states,” the briefs state. “The states have long regulated gambling, including sports betting. In some states, sports betting is simply illegal, while in others it is permitted but comprehensively regulated. Yet Kalshi says state gambling laws do not matter to its operations. That is, Kalshi argues, because of finance legislation passed by Congress 15 years ago.”
But the briefs argue that “courts expect Congress to speak clearly when it intends to alter this country’s traditional balance of power. It follows that Congress could not have removed the states’ traditional authority over sports betting without even mentioning the subject.”
The brief also said that Congress is expected to “speak clearly about whether it intends to give a federal agency unprecedented authority over important subjects. That doctrine also plays a role here, because Kalshi’s position would delegate to a federal commission the authority to set a nationwide policy on sports gambling. If Congress really wanted to delegate that much power, it would not have kept the matter secret.”
Several of the states that have signed on to the brief offer legal sports betting, but others, including Nevada’s neighbors California and Utah, do not.
States that have signed on to the mandate include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Carolina, South Carolina, South Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina. Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
This is a development story. Check back for updates.
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