Federal judge approves preliminary injunction against Illinois by Kalshi and Coinbase

On October 2nd, Martha M. Pacold, a federal judge for the Northern District of Illinois, partially approved the preliminary injunction applications of Kalshi, Coinbase, and the US CFTC, preventing Illinois from applying sports betting license requirements and criminal provisions to Kalshi's listed contracts, determining that such contracts fall under the definition of swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act and are under the jurisdiction of the CFTC. This ruling constitutes a disagreement within the Seventh Circuit with the ruling of the Wisconsin court, which has been appealed to the Circuit Court of Appeals.