Vardan Khachatryan
Kalshi in Minnesota
Contested for all event contracts, with no restriction in force.
- Sports contracts
- Available, but contested
- Other contracts
- Available
- Regulator
- CFTC: a designated contract market (DCM) and derivatives clearing organization
- Rulings and actions in Minnesota
- 1 on record, listed in the timeline
- Legal sports betting
- None, online or in person
- State ban
- Minn. Stat. § 609.7615, enjoined since July 27, 2026
- Federal appeals court
- Eighth Circuit: has not ruled on the question
- Last change
- August 17, 2026
Each entry on this page links the ruling or report it rests on. Nothing here is legal advice.
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Why Kalshi is legal in Minnesota
Kalshi is a federally regulated exchange. The CFTC designated it a contract market in 2020, the same status futures exchanges hold.
Minnesota tried to shut it out anyway. A new law made running or advertising a prediction market a felony from August 1, 2026.
It never took hold against Kalshi. Five days before, a federal judge blocked Minnesota from enforcing it against CFTC-registered exchanges.
Legal today is not the same as settled. The judge called her ruling preliminary and warned it could narrow. Here is why.
What you can trade on Kalshi from Minnesota
Everything Kalshi lists: sports, politics, economics, crypto, culture and weather. You must be 18 or over and pass its ID checks.
Local teams trade too. The Vikings' October 4 game against Miami is already listed. The Lynx's series with New York trades game by game.
Politics is busy too. Minnesota elects a US senator on November 3, 2026, and Kalshi lists Peggy Flanagan against Michele Tafoya.
See the live Minnesota Senate odds.
Kalshi told the court it had more than 90,000 verified users in Minnesota as of May 26, 2026.
How Kalshi works for Minnesota traders
Every Kalshi contract is a yes-or-no question. It pays $1 if the answer is yes and nothing if it is no.
The price is the market's odds. A contract at 60¢ means traders put the chance at about 60%.
Say the Vikings are 60¢ to win Sunday. You buy 100 contracts for $60. Kalshi's standard fee on that trade is $1.68.
If the Vikings win, you collect $100, a $38.32 profit. If they lose, you are out $61.68.
The judge who blocked the ban put the downside plainly. Guess wrong, and “she takes nothing and loses the money she risks.”
The fee is highest near 50¢ and shrinks toward either end. Our Kalshi fees guide has the full schedule.
What Minnesota has said about Kalshi
Minnesota did more than talk. It became the first state to ban prediction markets outright.
Governor Tim Walz signed the ban on May 18, 2026, inside a public safety bill. A second law, signed May 26, rewrote it.
The final version dropped weather contracts after farm groups objected.
It makes it a felony to run a prediction market or to supply its data or payments. Advertising one is a felony too.
The ban reaches sports, elections, pop culture, war and whether someone will say a word, among other events.
Minnesota's default penalty for such a felony is up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Attorney General Keith Ellison defends the law in court. “Prediction markets are gambling, plain and simple,” he said after the ruling.
The bill's author, Rep. Emma Greenman, was blunter: “If it walks like a duck and if it quacks like a duck, it's gambling.”
Kalshi's case against Minnesota's ban, explained
Three lawsuits challenged the ban, all before Judge Katherine Menendez. The CFTC and the United States sued first, on May 19, 2026.
Kalshi followed on May 27, in KalshiEX LLC v. Ellison, No. 26-cv-2778. Polymarket US sued on June 3.
They argued federal law gives the CFTC exclusive power over contracts on its registered exchanges. Polymarket US and Kalshi also raised free speech claims.
On July 27, the judge granted a preliminary injunction in all three cases. She found the challengers likely to win, at least in part.
Her reasoning: many contracts on Kalshi likely count as “swaps,” which Congress put under the CFTC's “exclusive jurisdiction.”
She also flagged limits. A contract on who wins Love Island USA may not be a swap, she wrote.
So “any permanent injunctive relief may be much narrower,” she added.
For now, the order bars Minnesota from enforcing the ban against exchanges registered with the CFTC. It lasts until a final ruling.
Minnesota answered the suits in August. We found no appeal on the docket, so the case heads toward a final decision. That is where things could change.
What could change Kalshi's status in Minnesota
Three things could. The first is the final ruling. The judge left room to narrow the order to contracts that really are swaps.
A narrower order could leave markets like Love Island exposed to the ban, even if economic markets stay protected.
The second is sports. The judge said she need not decide whether Minnesota's older gambling laws reach Kalshi's sports contracts.
Next door, a judge ruled in September that Iowa's laws likely do. Our page on Kalshi in Iowa has that case.
Both courts sit in the Eighth Circuit, which has not ruled on the question. Its answer would bind Minnesota.
The third is the Supreme Court. The circuits are split: the Third sided with Kalshi, while the Ninth and Sixth ruled against it.
New Jersey has asked the Supreme Court to decide. Our litigation tracker follows each case.
Kalshi in Minnesota: timeline
Every change to Kalshi's position in Minnesota, newest first. Each entry links the ruling, law or filing behind it.
How Kalshi compares to sports betting in Minnesota
Sports betting is not legal in Minnesota, online or in person. Tribal casinos operate here, but no one can legally take a sports bet.
So Kalshi fills a gap. Minnesotans cannot bet on the Vikings at a sportsbook, but they can trade them on Kalshi.
That gap helped drive the ban. Lawmakers cited addiction, especially among young adults, and the risk of insider trading.
Tribal nations backed the ban in court. They argued the markets threaten the gaming they run in their casinos.
The difference is who supervises the product. A sportsbook would need a state license. Kalshi answers to the CFTC, which is why it can list sports here.
Other prediction market apps in Minnesota
The order protects exchanges registered with the CFTC. Polymarket US sued alongside Kalshi. See whether Polymarket is legal in Minnesota.
Apps that only broker trades onto those exchanges are not named in the order. Robinhood's own restrictions page lists only Maryland and Nevada.
Here is where each app we rank stands in the state. For the full picture, see prediction markets in Minnesota.
| App | Status in Minnesota | More |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini Predictions | Available, sports included | Gemini Predictions review |
| Polymarket US | Contested for all event contracts, with no restriction in force | Is Polymarket legal in Minnesota? |
| OG | Available, sports included | OG review |
| Interactive Brokers | Available; it lists no sports contracts anywhere | Interactive Brokers review |
| Robinhood | Available, sports included | Robinhood review |
| ProphetX | Available, sports included | ProphetX review |
| Coinbase | Available, sports included | Coinbase review |
| Webull | Available, sports included | Webull review |
| Novig | Available, sports included | Novig review |
| DraftKings Predictions | Available, sports included | DraftKings Predictions review |
| Fanatics Markets | Available, sports included | Fanatics Markets review |
| FanDuel Predicts | Available, sports included | FanDuel Predicts review |
| PrizePicks | Available, sports included | PrizePicks review |
| Underdog Predict | Available, sports included | Underdog Predict review |
How to use Kalshi in Minnesota
Sign up with your email, confirm your identity with a driver's license or passport, and fund the account.
Kalshi takes bank transfers, debit cards, Apple Pay, PayPal, Venmo, wires and crypto, among others.
Withdrawals go back to your bank or card. There is nothing extra to do in Minnesota: one account works statewide.
Keep an eye on the case. Kalshi told the court it would have to cancel Minnesota users' trades if the ban were enforced.
Before you fund it, read our Kalshi review for its fees, payouts and the lawsuits against it. New to all this? Start with what prediction markets are.