BlockBeats News, March 18, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes on Tuesday criminally charged the prediction market platform Kalshi, accusing it of offering illegal betting services in the state, including allowing users to bet on sports events and election results.
Mayes said in a statement that although Kalshi positioned itself as a “prediction market,” it was actually operating an illegal gambling business and allowing users to bet on Arizona elections, in violation of local laws. “No company can decide for itself which laws to follow.”
Prosecution documents show that Kalshi faces a total of 20 criminal charges, including allowing Arizona residents to bet on various events such as professional and college sports events, player performance bets, and election results. The charges also include four election-related charges involving the 2028 U.S. presidential election, the 2026 Arizona gubernatorial election, the 2026 Republican gubernatorial primary, and the 2026 secretary of state election.
Kalshi, on the other hand, stated that these charges are “seriously flawed” and described the state attorney general’s actions as “political maneuvers.” The platform has long argued that the event contracts it offers fall under the purview of the Commodity Exchange Act and should be regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), with federal oversight taking precedence over state law.
Currently, Kalshi is facing similar regulatory challenges in multiple states such as Ohio and Tennessee, and the legal dispute over whether prediction markets constitute gambling is escalating.
