Wisconsin Sues Kalshi, Robinhood, Coinbase and Others for Allegedly Facilitating Illegal Sports Betting

Odaily Odaily Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit on April 23 in Dane County against Kalshi, Robinhood, Coinbase, Polymarket, and Crypto.com, accusing these fintech and crypto platforms of facilitating illegal sports betting through event contracts. Josh Kaul requested the court to issue preliminary and permanent injunctions, declaring the platforms' operations under Wisconsin gambling laws as illegal and constituting a public nuisance. The complaint states that rebranding wagers as event contracts does not change their essential function, with approximately 90% of Kalshi's business coming from sports-related contracts, generating annualized revenue of over $1 billion. Robinhood and Coinbase are also implicated in the case for routing user orders to Kalshi markets through distribution agreements. Regulatory agencies in Nevada, Arizona, and Tennessee have also taken similar legal actions or issued cease-and-desist orders.