Wisconsin has opened a new state-level front in the fight over prediction markets, filing lawsuits against Kalshi, Robinhood, Coinbase, Polymarket, Crypto.com and related entities over sports event contracts offered to residents.

What Wisconsin says

Attorney General Josh Kaul said the platforms are facilitating illegal sports betting by packaging wagers as "event contracts." According to the complaints, filed Thursday in Dane County, the state wants a court declaration that the offerings violate Wisconsin law and an injunction barring the companies from making sports-related contracts available in the state.

The state's theory is narrow and familiar: if users put up money on a sporting outcome and receive a fixed payout when they are right, Wisconsin treats that activity as gambling regardless of the label attached to it. Multiple reports say the suits do not currently seek monetary damages.

Why it matters

The case adds another test to the growing federal-versus-state dispute around prediction markets. Kalshi and other platforms have argued that federally regulated event contracts fall under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, not state gambling regulators. Wisconsin is taking the opposite view and moving in court instead of relying only on cease-and-desist letters.

The timing is notable because Wisconsin recently cleared a path for online sports betting operated through tribal nations. Kaul said that change does not authorize commercial prediction market platforms to offer similar products statewide. If the litigation advances, it could add more pressure to a national fight that is already moving through multiple courts.