Kalshi and Polymarket win injunction against Minnesota prediction market ban

A federal judge just handed prediction market operators their biggest legal win yet. US District Judge Katherine Menendez issued a preliminary injunction on July 27 blocking Minnesota’s outright ban on prediction markets, which would have made operating or advertising such platforms a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The law was set to kick in on August 1. Four days of breathing room doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the legislative process. What Minnesota tried to do Governor Tim Walz signed the prediction market ban into law on May 18, making Minnesota the first state in the country to classify prediction market operations as a criminal offense. The statute treated prediction markets as a form of illegal gambling, a characterization that Kalshi, Polymarket, and federal regulators found deeply objectionable. The response was swift. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a lawsuit against the state the very next day, on May 19, arguing that federal law preempts state attempts to ban platforms operating under CFTC oversight. Kalshi and Polymarket joined that legal challenge, turning the case into a multi-front battle over who actually g...