An online betting platform is suing the Ohio Casino Control Commission and the state Attorney General’s office, saying the state has overstepped its authority by trying to stop it from offering sports futures betting.
In an Oct. 7 complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in Columbus, Kalshi says the efforts of the Ohio Casino Control Commission and Ohio Attorney General’s office have resulted in companies being nervous about doing business with them.
Kalshi is a predictive futures company, allowing users to place bets on real world events, including sporting events. The company calls its bets “events contracts,” court records say.
The complaint says representatives from Kalshi have communicated back and forth with the state for months to try to come to an agreement. Instead, court records say, the state said federal law doesn’t pre-empt the state’s ability to regulate sports gambling.
Legal sports betting in Ohio can only be conducted with an agency that has a sports gaming license issued by the state.
Kalshi’s complaint says the company received a cease-and-desist letter from the casino commission in early 2025. Other sports books have been told by the commission that doing business with Kalshi while they are unlicensed for sports gaming in Ohio could result in the commission taking action against those other sports books, the complaint says.
Kalshi also says in the complaint that the state told other sports books those consequences — including losing their license — could be imposed even if the business is done outside Ohio.
“If effectuated, the Casino Commission’s threat to these brokers would cut off Kalshi’s access to millions of users and key operators, and compound the extraordinary harm Kalshi would suffer as a result of the Casino Commission’s unlawful attempts at regulation,” the complaint says.
In June, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s office filed a brief in support in a New Jersey federal court along with three dozen other attorneys general in combined efforts to regulate Kalshi’s activities in their states.
“Eliminating the states’ ability to regulate online sports betting would pose very serious risks to the states’ citizens,” Yost’s office wrote in its brief.
Kalshi’s complaint details a letter sent to the platform on Oct. 6 by the state saying federal laws Kalshi had tried to use to explain why they should be allowed to continue operating aren’t overrun by the state’s ability to regulate gambling.
“The Commission is unpersuaded that Ohio law is preempted by federal law as Kalshi contends. Consequently, to the extent Kalshi chooses to continue to offer unlicensed and unregulated sports gaming in the form of sporting event contracts within Ohio, Kalshi will be violating Ohio law,” Matthew Schuler, executive director of the casino commission, wrote in an Oct. 6 letter.
Kalshi is asking a federal judge for an injunction to prevent the state from stopping Kalshi from operating on Oct. 20.
Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@gannett.com or on Bluesky at @bethanybruner.dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Online betting platform Kalshi sues Ohio casino regulators, attorney general to stay open
Reporting by Bethany Bruner, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
