Vardan Khachatryan
Kalshi in Wisconsin
Contested for sports 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 Wisconsin
- 6 on record, listed in the timeline
- Legal sports betting
- At tribal casinos; a 2026 law allows mobile bets through tribal servers
- Wisconsin's suit
- State of Wisconsin v. Kalshi, Inc., No. 3:26-cv-00378 (W.D. Wis.)
- Federal appeals court
- Seventh Circuit: has not ruled on the question
- Last change
- September 21, 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 Wisconsin
Kalshi is a federally regulated exchange. The CFTC designated it a contract market in 2020, the same status futures exchanges hold.
Kalshi says that puts its contracts under the CFTC alone. Wisconsin's attorney general says its sports contracts are illegal betting.
No court has ordered Kalshi to stop in Wisconsin. You can trade every category, sports included.
Legal today is not the same as settled. Kalshi faces two lawsuits in Wisconsin, and the federal government lost its bid to help. Here is how each stands.
What you can trade on Kalshi from Wisconsin
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 Packers' October 4 game against Tampa Bay is listed. So is the Badgers' October 3 game against Michigan State.
Wisconsin elects a governor on November 3, 2026. There is no US Senate race here this year.
Sports are the heart of the fight. Wisconsin's complaint says sports make up nearly 90% of Kalshi's fees, citing the Financial Times.
How Kalshi works for Wisconsin 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 Packers are 60¢ to win Sunday. You buy 100 contracts for $60. Kalshi's standard fee on that trade is $1.68.
If the Packers win, you collect $100, a $38.32 profit. If they lose, you are out $61.68.
Wisconsin's own complaint walks through the same math. It cites Michigan at about 53¢ to win a Final Four game, paying $1 when it did.
The state calls Kalshi's fee “akin to a casino's rake at a poker table.” Our Kalshi fees guide has the full schedule.
What Wisconsin has said about Kalshi
Wisconsin did not stop at statements. It went to court.
On April 23, 2026, Attorney General Josh Kaul sued Kalshi, Robinhood and Coinbase in Dane County. Separate suits named Polymarket and Crypto.com.
“Thinly disguising unlawful conduct doesn't make it lawful,” Kaul said.
The suit says Kalshi's sports contracts break Wis. Stat. § 945.03(1m), the state's commercial gambling law. It calls them a public nuisance.
It asks the court to bar sports contracts for customers located in Wisconsin. Kalshi's other markets are not part of the case.
Governor Tony Evers has acted too. In May 2026, he barred state employees and their families from trading on inside knowledge.
The Wisconsin lawsuits against Kalshi, explained
The state filed in Dane County Circuit Court. The next day, the defendants moved the case to federal court in Madison, No. 3:26-cv-00378.
Wisconsin wants it sent back to state court. It has also asked for a preliminary injunction against the sports contracts.
Both requests were fully briefed by August 7. We found no ruling on either yet.
The CFTC fought back. On April 28, it sued Wisconsin in federal court to stop the state enforcing its gambling law against the apps.
Kalshi asked to join the CFTC's side. The court said no.
On July 28, Judge William Griesbach denied the CFTC a preliminary injunction. He found it unlikely to prove sports contracts are swaps.
Even if they were, he added, federal law likely does not preempt Wisconsin's gambling statutes. The CFTC and Kalshi have appealed to the Seventh Circuit.
Then there is the Ho-Chunk Nation. It sued in August 2025, under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, over its own land.
On May 11, 2026, Judge William Conley found the Nation likely to win that claim. Gaming happens “where the bettor is physically located,” he wrote.
He still refused an injunction, because the Nation had not shown irreparable harm. He dismissed its racketeering and false-advertising claims.
In September he was blunter: “Kalshi does offer sports betting.” He let Kalshi seek an early appeal and paused the case.
Kalshi asked the Seventh Circuit to take it on September 21, No. 26-8020. The Nation's lands cover about 17 square miles across 14 counties.
What could change Kalshi's status in Wisconsin
Three things could. The first is the state's own suit. If a court grants Wisconsin's injunction, sports contracts could close statewide.
The second is tribal land. A win for the Ho-Chunk Nation could bar Kalshi's sports contracts on its lands.
That has happened elsewhere. After a similar Ninth Circuit ruling in September, Kalshi switched off its markets on three California tribes' lands.
The third is the Seventh Circuit, which covers Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. It now has the CFTC's appeal and Kalshi's petition in the Ho-Chunk case.
Beyond that sits the Supreme Court. The circuits are split, and New Jersey has asked the justices to decide. Our litigation tracker follows each case.
Kalshi in Wisconsin: timeline
Every change to Kalshi's position in Wisconsin, newest first. Each entry links the ruling or filing behind it.
How Kalshi compares to sports betting in Wisconsin
Sports betting in Wisconsin belongs to the tribes. Their gaming compacts let them take sports bets on tribal land.
A new law widens that. Governor Evers signed Assembly Bill 601 on April 9, 2026, allowing mobile bets through servers on tribal land.
Those bets must run through a tribe's compact. “This legislation is the beginning of a conversation, not the end of one,” Evers wrote.
Kalshi sits outside that system. It answers to the CFTC, not to the tribes or the state, and that is exactly what Wisconsin disputes.
Other prediction market apps in Wisconsin
Wisconsin's suits also name Robinhood, Coinbase, Polymarket US and Crypto.com. None is under a court order in Wisconsin yet.
Novig went on offense instead. Its exchange sued the attorney general on August 14, asking a court to shield it from state gambling law.
Here is where each app we rank stands in the state. For the full picture, see prediction markets in Wisconsin.
| App | Status in Wisconsin | More |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini Predictions | Available, sports included | Gemini Predictions review |
| Polymarket US | Contested for sports contracts, with no restriction in force | Polymarket review |
| OG | Available, sports included | OG review |
| Interactive Brokers | Available; it lists no sports contracts anywhere | Interactive Brokers review |
| Robinhood | Contested for sports contracts, with no restriction in force | 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, but not for sports contracts | DraftKings Predictions review |
| Fanatics Markets | Not available | Fanatics Markets review |
| FanDuel Predicts | Available, but not for sports contracts | FanDuel Predicts review |
| PrizePicks | Available, sports included | PrizePicks review |
| Underdog Predict | Available, sports included | Underdog Predict review |
How to use Kalshi in Wisconsin
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 Wisconsin: one account works statewide.
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.