A Michigan judge has temporarily blocked prediction market platform Kalshi from offering sports betting contracts to state residents, adding fuel to the ongoing state-federal clash over who gets to regulate prediction markets.
Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina issued a temporary restraining order, threatening Kalshi with fines of $120,000 per day if it fails to comply with the order’s geolocation restrictions. The order runs for 14 days, expiring July 13. Aquilina wrote that Michigan residents would suffer irreparable harm from what she called Kalshi’s sports betting operation masquerading as an investment opportunity.
Michigan is now the second US state to enact a court-ordered ban on Kalshi’s sports event contracts, following Nevada’s temporary ban earlier in March. The legal landscape is getting crowded — Kentucky sued five prediction market platforms including Kalshi and Polymarket on June 17, and more than a dozen states have taken operators to court.
Meanwhile, the CFTC has sued multiple states, arguing that federally regulated event contracts fall under its exclusive authority. The jurisdictional mess shows no signs of clearing up soon.
Sports betting on prediction markets has surged since the FIFA World Cup kicked off. Daily taker volume hit a record $713 million on June 20, according to Dune data. Sports betting was the leading category on both Kalshi and Polymarket, rising 40% to $9.5 billion on Kalshi and 175% to $5.3 billion on Polymarket.
