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Kalshi, Robinhood Told to Cease and Desist in new Jersey

earnestineodon edited this page 2026-04-28 10:36:17 +02:00

Add another state to the container of cease-and-desist letters to predictive markets Kalshi and Robinhood.

First reported by Dustin Gouker's The Closing Line late Thursday afternoon, the New Jersey Department of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) issued a cease-and-desist letter to both platforms for providing "unauthorized sports betting." Both companies were issued a Friday due date of 11:59 p.m. ET to comply.

The letters were resolved to Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev.

Launched in July 2021, Kalshi is a U.S.-based financial exchange offering occasion contracts and is the first federally controlled exchange for trading on real-world occasions, economics, politics, home entertainment, cultures, and sporting occasions.

The contents

NJDGE interim Jo Flaherty sent one-page, four-paragraph letters to each company.

In them, the department determined Kalshi "noted unauthorized sports wagers" within the state of New Jersey.

"This activity constitutes a violation of the New Jersey Sports Wagering Act, which just permits licensed entities to provide sports betting to customers found in New Jersey," Flaherty composed.

"Further, Kalshi is currently offering unapproved sports wagering to New Jersey citizens on college sporting events occurring in New Jersey in violation of the New Jersey Constitution. That constitutional provision requireds that 'betting will not be permitted on a college sport or athletic event that occurs in New Jersey or on a sport or athletic occasion in which any New Jersey college team participates no matter where the occasion takes place.'"

Not only does the NJDGE demand the business cease and desist from providing any form of New Jersey sports betting, the department also insists Kalshi "void any such wagers currently positioned."

Both letters were issued a number of hours prior to the start of the NCAA males's college basketball competition East Regional Sweet 16 matchups at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Legally, New Jersey residents can not wager on any New Jersey collegiate team (home or away) and can not place a bet on a collegiate sporting event held within the state, despite the fact that New Jersey teams are not participating. So, for Alabama, Arizona, BYU, and Duke fans within the Garden State, they can only expect the pure satisfaction of the sport.

This month, Kalshi presented "March Madness" single game-betting markets in all 50 states, whether sports betting is legal in that state or not for both the NCAA males's and females's college basketball tournaments. All the marketplaces in all the states are provided through an exchange, instead of "versus your house."

Just last week, both business joined forces to offer "sports occasion trading" on both tournaments. Kalshi skyrocketed to prominence with last November's Presidential Election and started providing sporting event markets consisting of the Super Bowl previously this year.

Earlier this month, Nevada ended up being the very first state to take main action versus Kalshi and its prediction market platform and the Massachusetts Secretary of State's office released a subpoena to Robinhood earlier today inquiring about its recently launched sports wagering forecast market.

Kalshi, Robinhood main declarations

Both Kalshi and Robinhood supplied official statements on the matter.

"Kalshi believes in the worth of guideline and operates under the comprehensive oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. We anticipate engaging with the state of New Jersey to fix this matter," said a Kalshi representative in an e-mail to Covers Thursday evening.

"Event contracts provided by Robinhood Derivatives are federally controlled by the CFTC and provided through CFTC-registered entities, assuring that retail consumers can access these prediction markets in a safe and regulated manner," stated a Robinhood spokesperson in an e-mail to Covers. "While we do not believe these contracts run afoul of any state laws, we are no longer permitting New Jersey locals to go into brand-new positions for the Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament event agreements."

Robinhood did include that this action just affects contracts associated with the men's and women's college basketball competitions. New Jersey citizens will still have the ability to access their prediction markets hub and agreements on other classifications.