Kalshi ordered to halt Washington prediction markets

• A Washington judge ordered Kalshi to stop offering several types of event contracts in the state.
• Kalshi must introduce initial geofencing by 19 August and a broader system by 2 September.
• Contracts covering commodities, climate, economics and finance are exempt from the order.

Kalshi was ordered to stop offering a broad range of prediction markets in Washington state after a judge rejected its federal pre-emption argument.

King County Superior Court Judge John McHale barred contracts covering sports, elections, politics, entertainment, culture, technology and science.

Kalshi must implement IP-address and residency-based geofencing by 19 August, followed by GeoComply multi-source geofencing by 2 September.

The amended order followed a preliminary injunction granted in July, when the judge found Washington’s gambling laws were not pre-empted by the federal Commodity Exchange Act.

Kalshi maintains that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over its exchange, while the Washington Court of Appeals denied its request to pause the injunction.

Contracts linked to commodities, climate, economics and finance remain exempt, leaving Kalshi able to offer those markets under the current order.