(WTAQ-WLUK) – Wisconsin maintains its sports betting laws ban commodity trading websites, such as Kalshi and CDNA, according to a new court filing.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal agency, filed suit against Wisconsin and four other states. The CFTC argued that the sports-related event contracts are swaps, a type of financial derivative regulated exclusively by federal commodities law, which preempts the Wisconsin gambling statutes as applied to such contracts. Wisconsin claimed that the companies that are offering these “event contracts” are facilitating sports betting, a form of illegal gambling under Wisconsin law.
The July 29 decision by Judge William Griesbach ruled against the CFTC, and it appealed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.
In a brief filed Wednesday, Wisconsin says the federal government doesn’t have the power to pre-empt state gambling laws, and, even if it did, the types of bets offered aren’t allowed.
Even if sports bets made on prediction markets were “swaps,” the CEA still allows the State to continue its century-plus tradition of regulating sports betting in any form. Any uncertainty again resolves in Wisconsin’s favor, because another clear-statement rule—the presumption against preemption— favors leaving sports-betting authority with the States, where it’s always been,” wrote Asst. Attorney General Colin Roth.
The federal government’s response is due Nov. 19.
The federal government also filed a brief Wednesday, arguing that the American Gaming Association should not be allowed to join the case.
No hearings have been scheduled.
