Nevada Court Issues Temporary Injunction, Prohibiting Polymarket from Offering Event-Based Contracts in the State

Odaily News A court in Nevada, USA, has ruled to issue a two-week temporary restraining order against Blockratize, the operating entity behind prediction market platform Polymarket, prohibiting it from offering sports and event-based contracts to residents of Nevada. The court believes that Polymarket's related business may violate Nevada's gambling laws and is not protected by the "exclusive regulatory authority" of the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The ruling points out that the Commodity Exchange Act does not grant the CFTC exclusive jurisdiction over Polymarket's contracts. Platforms engaging in such business without obtaining state-level licenses would hinder Nevada's gambling regulatory agencies from fulfilling their statutory duties, such as preventing match manipulation, underage participation, and involvement by ineligible personnel. The court believes that maintaining the integrity of the state's gambling system serves the public interest and therefore supports the issuance of a temporary injunction.

If this ruling is upheld in subsequent hearings, prediction market platforms like Polymarket and its competitor Kalshi may need to apply for gambling licenses state by state or be forced to exit the sports-related market. Previously, regulatory agencies in Hungary, Portugal, and the US state of Tennessee have also taken restrictive measures against Polymarket, indicating that prediction markets are facing increasingly stringent state-level compliance pressures. (Decrypt)