Ninth Circuit denies Kalshi rehearing bid, leaving Nevada sports-contract ruling in place

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on November 4, 2026, refused to reconsider its ruling that Nevada can likely enforce its gaming law against Kalshi's sports event contracts.

In a one-page order in KalshiEX, LLC v. Assad (No. 25-7516), the three-judge panel of Ryan D. Nelson, Bridget S. Bade and Kenneth K. Lee "unanimously votes to DENY the petition for rehearing and petition for rehearing en banc." The order adds: "The full court has been advised of the petition for rehearing en banc and no judge has requested a vote on whether to rehear the matter en banc." The defendants are members of the Nevada Gaming Control Board and Nevada Gaming Commission and other state officials; the Nevada Resort Association took part as an intervenor.

What the panel decided in August

In its published August 28 opinion, the panel affirmed in part the District of Nevada's order dissolving Kalshi's preliminary injunction. It held that Kalshi had not shown a likelihood that the Commodity Exchange Act pre-empts Nevada's gaming regulations as applied to its sports event contracts, finding that the contracts are not "swaps" under the statute because they are sports bets. The panel remanded for the district court to consider Nevada's challenges to Kalshi's election contracts.

Kalshi asked for rehearing on September 9, 2026. Its petition, filed by Milbank's Neal Kumar Katyal, argued that the panel's decision "creates a circuit split on an exceptionally important question of federal preemption" and conflicts with the Third Circuit, which ruled for Kalshi against New Jersey on April 6, 2026.

What comes next

Supreme Court Rule 13.3 gives a party 90 days from the denial of a timely rehearing petition to seek certiorari, which puts Kalshi's deadline at February 2, 2027, unless the Court extends it. Under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 41(b), the Ninth Circuit's mandate ordinarily issues seven days after an order denying rehearing unless the court stays it.

The Supreme Court already has related petitions in front of it. New Jersey's petition in the Third Circuit case (Flaherty v. KalshiEX, No. 26-299) is pending, with Kalshi's response due December 7, 2026. Robinhood Derivatives (No. 26-338) and Crypto.com's North American Derivatives Exchange (No. 26-344), whose petitions arise from companion Nevada appeals in the Ninth Circuit, have also filed; Nevada's responses are due November 13 and November 16, according to the Supreme Court dockets.

The order follows the Second Circuit's November 3 denial of injunctions pending appeal sought by Kalshi and Coinbase against New York and Connecticut. AskSpinner's prediction market litigation tracker lists the state of each case.

Kalshi and the Nevada Gaming Control Board had not publicly commented on the order at the time of publication.

Photo: Diarmuid Greene/Web Summit / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

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