CFTC Sues New Mexico This Week to Block State Gambling Laws on Prediction Markets

According to Odaily, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a lawsuit this week against New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Attorney General Raúl Torrez to prevent the state from applying its gambling regulations to prediction market platforms like Kalshi. The CFTC contends that such platforms offer federally regulated derivative contracts, not state-regulated gambling products.

The CFTC has now sued five states (Wisconsin, Illinois, Arizona, Connecticut, and New York) in recent months to establish its exclusive jurisdiction over sports prediction markets. This week, the agency also proposed broader prediction market rules that would generally permit sports-related contracts, signaling an escalating conflict between federal and state authorities over the regulatory boundaries of prediction markets.