Louisiana's fight over prediction markets escalated into an open clash between the state and the federal government this weekend. On Friday, November 13, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the United States sued Louisiana in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, asking a federal judge to block a state-court order that had shut Kalshi, Polymarket, Coinbase, Robinhood and dozens of affiliated companies out of the state a day earlier, according to The Block's reporting of the federal complaint.
Attorney General Liz Murrill answered on Saturday, November 14. Replying at 12:05 p.m. Eastern to a post by CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, she wrote on X: 'Flatly false statements by the "obsequious standard bearer" for Kalshi and prediction markets. Gambling has been regulated by states for 250 years.' Selig had said on Friday evening that event contracts 'have traded openly in Louisiana for years, in compliance with the CEA and [CFTC] regulations,' and had called the state's suit an 'eleventh-hour "emergency" lawsuit' amounting to 'naked lawfare and a cynical political stunt.'
Source: The Block
How the state order landed, hour by hour
The clash began on Thursday morning, November 12, when Murrill announced she had filed suit in Louisiana state court 'against Kalshi, Polymarket, and numerous other illegal online gambling operations,' saying she was 'seeking an immediate restraining order and an injunction to restore the rule of law in Louisiana.' The petition, filed in the 21st Judicial District Court for the Parish of Tangipahoa as State of Louisiana v. Kalshi Inc. et al., asked for a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction and civil penalties, according to the filing released by her office and reported by Legal Sports Report and CDC Gaming.
Hours later, at 3:48 p.m. Central on November 12, District Judge Jeffrey Johnson signed an ex parte temporary restraining order — issued without first hearing from the companies. The order cites Louisiana Revised Statutes 27:19.1 and 27:19.2, which allow the attorney general to seek emergency relief against gambling by computer, and a counsel certification under Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 3603(A)(2). It restrains the named companies from operating, offering, listing, accepting, clearing, settling or brokering any 'event contract' for anyone in Louisiana without a state licence and permit, and requires them to geofence the state.
The 31 entities are tied to 13 brands: five Kalshi companies including KalshiEX LLC; Polymarket's QCX LLC, Blockratize Inc. and related companies; Robinhood Markets and Robinhood Derivatives; Crypto.com entities including the North American Derivatives Exchange; Coinbase Global and Coinbase Financial Markets; ForecastEx and Rothera Exchange and Clearing; three Underdog companies; IG Group; four Gemini companies; Ludlow Exchange, doing business as Novig; and ProphetX. The contracts at issue cover sports, elections, awards and other events. The state's claims are allegations in a petition; the restraining order is a temporary, one-sided order and is not a ruling on the merits.
The federal counter-attack
The industry and its regulator moved on two tracks. Kalshi filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana seeking a preliminary injunction against the state, CDC Gaming reported, and a notice of removal filed on November 13 opened a related federal case in the Eastern District, Louisiana State v. Kalshi Inc., No. 2:26-cv-02614. Kalshi also cut off Louisiana users: its app now tells them, 'Your government says you can't use Kalshi anymore,' says the state acted 'without a hearing, notice, or due process,' and invites them to 'Protect your freedom to trade,' according to a screenshot reviewed by The Block.
The CFTC's own complaint names the state, Murrill, the Louisiana Gaming Control Board and the state police's gaming enforcement division. It asks the court to declare that state gambling laws are pre-empted for CFTC-regulated markets and to bar Louisiana from enforcing or extending the state order. 'The Commission's lawsuit seeks to maintain the status quo while the federal courts decide this issue in an orderly manner,' Selig said in a CFTC statement. The agency said Louisiana is the 12th state it has sued to defend its claimed exclusive jurisdiction over derivatives markets; on Thursday it had also sued Arkansas with the Justice Department. Selig told a conference audience on Friday that states were 'essentially trying to lock up founders and CEOs' of prediction-market companies.
Kalshi, to The Block: 'Under the Court's logic, contracts such as interest rate swaps and weather derivatives, both of which are commonly traded financial instruments that the Louisiana economy is highly dependent on, are illegal gambling products. Nothing could better illustrate why Congress gave the CFTC exclusive jurisdiction over our national financial markets.' Polymarket: 'Prediction markets are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission under a federal framework, not a patchwork of state rules.' Murrill: 'Gambling has been regulated by states for 250 years.'
Background: a national state-by-state war
Louisiana is the 11th state to sue one or more prediction markets, according to The Block, and, according to industry reporting, the fourth to win injunctive relief after Michigan, Washington and Nevada. The platforms argue that federal commodities law gives the CFTC exclusive authority over event contracts traded on regulated exchanges; the states argue the contracts are unlicensed gambling when they let residents wager on sports and elections. Kalshi's co-founders are separately facing 14 criminal charges in Utah filed in October — a case Awaaz Punjab has reported — and the company's March 2026 federal rule fights over related licences are still moving through the courts in Washington.
For readers in Louisiana — including the state's Punjabi and wider South Asian communities in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Shreveport — the immediate effect is practical: the biggest prediction-market apps have geofenced the state, so event contracts cannot be traded from a Louisiana location while the order stands. For readers elsewhere, the Louisiana case matters because the pre-emption question — whether one federal licence beats 50 state gambling laws — is the same question pending in the other state cases, and a federal ruling in New Orleans could shape how every state fight ends.
What happens next
The state restraining order expires at 3:48 p.m. Central on November 22 unless Judge Johnson extends it, which he can do in increments of up to 10 days, or the companies agree to a longer period. The hearing on the state's motion for a preliminary injunction is set for 9 a.m. on November 30 in Tangipahoa Parish — after the order's own expiry date, which makes an extension fight likely this week. In parallel, the Eastern District federal court will take up the CFTC's pre-emption suit and the removed state case, and the Western District has Kalshi's injunction request. Awaaz Punjab will update this story as those courts rule.