Prediction Markets in New Jersey: Legal Status

Status as of September 28, 2026

New Jersey's dispute with Kalshi has reached the Supreme Court of the United States, and nothing in the record closes it. The Division of Gaming Enforcement's letter of March 27, 2025 told Kalshi that listing sports wagers for people in New Jersey "constitutes a violation of the New Jersey Sports Wagering Act" and demanded that the exchange "immediately cease and desist from offering any form of sports wagering to New Jersey residents" (source 0). Kalshi sued, and the District of New Jersey's order of April 28, 2025 enjoined the state defendants "from pursuing civil or criminal enforcement actions against Kalshi concerning its sports-related event contracts" (source 3). The Third Circuit affirmed that order on April 6, 2026 (sources 6 and 7), and its mandate issued on April 28, 2026 (source 8). The state's petition for a writ of certiorari, filed September 2, 2026, is docketed as No. 26-299, and the Court has extended the time for Kalshi's response to November 9, 2026 (source 9). The injunction concerns sports-related contracts; no New Jersey document located names Kalshi's contracts on elections or anything else, and this page draws no conclusion about them.

Polymarket has no New Jersey record of its own. Searches of the District of New Jersey and the Third Circuit for Polymarket and for QCX LLC, the operator of Polymarket US, returned no docket, document or opinion (sources 11 and 25). The federal record shows QCX LLC designated as a contract market by the CFTC on July 9, 2025 (source 2); Polymarket's international site tells a visitor from the United States that trading is blocked on polymarket.com and points to Polymarket US (source 12), whose app terms of September 25, 2025 require a user to be legally permitted to access the exchange and name no state (source 13).

What the record shows

The state's law comes first. Article IV, Section VII, paragraph 2 of the New Jersey Constitution, in the form amended effective January 1, 2022, allows the Legislature to authorize wagering at casinos and racetracks on sports "except that wagering shall not be permitted on a college sport or athletic event that takes place in New Jersey or on a sport or athletic event in which any New Jersey college team participates regardless of where the event takes place" (source 1). The Sports Wagering Act, P.L.2018, c.33, provides in N.J.S.A. 5:12A-11(c) that no sports pool "shall be offered or made available for wagering to the public by any entity other than a sports wagering licensee", and makes offering one without the approval of the Division or the racing commission a crime of the fourth degree, with a fine of up to one hundred thousand dollars for a person other than a natural person (source 21). The criminal code's gambling chapter, N.J.S.A. 2C:37-1 and 2C:37-2, which the Division's letter to Kalshi does not cite, defines gambling to include a sports event on which a wager may be placed with a licensee and grades the offense of promoting gambling; both sections were last amended by P.L.2025, c.128 (source 22). None of these texts mentions event contracts, a designated contract market or the Commodity Exchange Act.

The federal side begins with designation. The CFTC's list records Kalshi as designated on November 3, 2020, with its order modified on January 17, 2025 to permit intermediated futures trading, and QCX LLC, doing business as Polymarket US, as designated on July 9, 2025 (source 2).

The dispute itself runs from the letter to the petition. Kalshi's complaint and its motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction were docketed on March 29, 2025, with the Division's letter attached as Exhibit 1 (source 4). Judge Edward S. Kiel's opinion of April 28, 2025 states that the motion "will be GRANTED" and sets a bond of one hundred thousand dollars, "intended to mirror that of the maximum fine of a violation under the Sports Wagering Act" (source 5); the same day's order enjoins the state defendants as quoted above (source 3). On May 8, 2025 Kalshi dismissed the Division, the Casino Control Commission and their members without prejudice, and the two remaining defendants, the Division's interim director and the Attorney General, filed their notice of appeal (source 4). The district court stayed its own proceedings on May 21, 2025 (source 4). The Third Circuit heard argument on September 10, 2025 (source 23) and on April 6, 2026 held in a precedential opinion that "Kalshi has demonstrated a reasonable chance of success on its argument that the Commodity Exchange Act ('the Act') preempts otherwise applicable state law" and that "the District Court did not abuse its discretion by granting the preliminary injunction", one judge dissenting (source 6); the judgment reads that the April 28, 2025 order "is hereby AFFIRMED", with costs taxed against the appellants (source 7), and the certified judgment issued as the mandate on April 28, 2026 (source 8). On May 19, 2026 the district court kept its stay in place pending the Supreme Court's decision on certiorari (source 20).

A second New Jersey matter turns on the same letter. Robinhood Derivatives, which received its own cease and desist letter dated March 27, 2025, sued the same defendants on August 19, 2025, and a consent order of August 22, 2025 enjoined enforcement against Robinhood "due to Robinhood's involvement in transactions of sports-related event contracts traded on KalshiEX LLC's designated contract market" until the Third Circuit decided the Kalshi appeal (source 19).

New Jersey has also spoken outside its own case. Its Attorney General is among the signatories of the brief of 38 states and the District of Columbia filed on December 22, 2025 in KalshiEX LLC v. Martin in the Fourth Circuit, a Maryland matter (source 17); the state co-led a 39-state brief filed on January 30, 2026 in the Ninth Circuit in KalshiEX LLC v. Hendrick, a Nevada matter (source 18); and it is among the six states named first on a comment letter of 41 attorneys general to the CFTC dated April 30, 2026, in Docket No. 2026-05105, arguing that sports-related event contracts fall outside the Commission's jurisdiction (source 16). That letter names Kalshi and does not name Polymarket.

The venues' own documents complete the record. Kalshi's Member Agreement, in the form read on September 28, 2026, lists foreign countries and sanctioned territories as Restricted Jurisdictions and no U.S. state (source 14); the list was added by an exchange notice of November 4, 2025 (source 15), and the newest member-agreement notice, dated September 20, 2026, concerns text messaging and changes nothing about jurisdiction (source 24).

What is not documented

No New Jersey-specific primary record naming Polymarket or QCX LLC was located as of September 28, 2026, so this page draws no conclusion about Polymarket in New Jersey; the search is repeated on October 12, 2026. The searches covered dockets, documents and opinions in the District of New Jersey and the Third Circuit and a nationwide docket search by name (sources 11 and 25), and the state's own petition of September 2, 2026 lists Polymarket only among other states' cases (source 10). For Kalshi, the record reaches its sports-related contracts and nothing else: no located document addresses the exchange's election or economic contracts in New Jersey, and this page draws no conclusion about them. The state courts' civil docket was not searched, and no state-court filing is asserted either way.

What happens next

The dated beats are set by the Supreme Court's docket. Kalshi's response to the petition in No. 26-299 is due on November 9, 2026, after the Court granted an extension on September 22, 2026, and a brief of amici curiae from the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States was filed the same day (source 9). In the District of New Jersey the parties are to file a joint status report within 21 days of the Court's decision on certiorari, or of its final disposition if certiorari is granted (source 20). Kalshi's notice reserves the right to change its restricted list at any time (source 15), and Polymarket's app terms say they may be modified at any time (source 13), so each venue's document is re-read at every review. This page is reviewed again on October 12, 2026, and sooner if a filing, order, regulator notice or venue notice naming New Jersey appears. Nothing here forecasts what the Supreme Court, the district court, the Legislature or a regulator will decide.

What this page does not do

This page is not legal advice, and nothing on this site is. It does not say whether any person may lawfully trade on any venue from New Jersey, does not characterize a contract as a wager or as a swap, does not address tax treatment, and does not predict how any court or regulator will act. It reports documents by name and date, quotes their operative words where the document supplies them, and says plainly where the record is silent. The review interval is 14 days, with an immediate re-read on any filing, ruling, regulator action or venue notice naming New Jersey. A correction is made on the page with the date of the change.