KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The New York State Gaming Commission is asking a court to compel Kalshi to comply with subpoenas investigating potential violations of state gambling law.
- Regulators seek records on sports event contracts, users younger than 21, advertising and corporate ownership to determine whether civil penalties are warranted.
- The dispute adds another front to the jurisdictional fight over Kalshi, which maintains its event contracts fall under federal oversight rather than state gambling regulation.
The New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) asked a Manhattan court to force Kalshi to turn over records about its sports prediction markets, alleging the company withheld information needed to investigate potential violations of state gambling law.
The commission’s verified petition filed in New York County Supreme Court on Oct. 22 seeks compliance with subpoenas issued July 31. The subpoena requests encompassed:
- Advertising that describes the products as bets or wagers
- Products offered to New Yorkers under 21
- Sports event contracts
- The companies’ ownership and corporate structure.
The proceeding adds a document production dispute to the broader fight over whether New York can regulate Kalshi’s sports contracts. The commission says it needs the records to decide whether to impose civil penalties and how much.
The prediction markets operator maintains that its event contracts are federally regulated financial products, rather than products subject to state gambling regulation.
New York seeks records allegedly withheld since summer
New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office represents the gaming commission. A July lawsuit from James sought $36bn from Kalshi for operating an “illegal, unlicensed gambling operation.”
The commission issued the subpoenas under Section 104(7) of the state’s Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law, with an Aug. 14 return date. They followed the federal district court’s denial of Kalshi’s request for a preliminary injunction against state enforcement.
The commission alleges the firm refused to produce documents responsive to eight requests and provided insufficient responses to others.
“Kalshi has flatly refused to produce any documents in response to Requests one through five or ten through twelve, which are undeniably relevant to the Gaming Commission’s investigation into Kalshi’s mobile sports wagering operations in New York,” the petition states.
The regulator seeks an order requiring Kalshi to answer the information requests and produce all responsive, nonprivileged documents within 10 days of the order.
SBC Americas contacted Kalshi seeking comment on the NYSGC’s claims, but did not hear back by the time of publishing.
Under-21 users and ownership among disputed requests
The dispute extends beyond records describing which sports contracts Kalshi offers.
According to the petition excerpts, the operator objected to requests about users younger than 21, arguing they “presuppose a gaming-age framework inapplicable to a CFTC-regulated exchange.”
New York is investigating Kalshi as a potential unlicensed sports wagering operator, while the company argues that its exchange falls under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) federal oversight.
Kalshi also objected to disclosing stock ownership information, describing it as “confidential and competitively sensitive investor and capitalization information,” implicating the privacy interests of investors who are not parties to the proceeding. The commission argues that ownership information could help identify parties responsible for potential violations and reveal additional investigative avenues involving other entities and individuals.
“The Gaming Commission seeks the documents and information requested in the Subpoenas so it can determine whether to issue civil penalties against Kalshi and others for violations of the Racing Law and, if so, in what amounts,” the petition states.
Subpoena case adds to NY regulatory fight
The commission alleges Kalshi has operated in New York for at least 18 months without obtaining the license that state law requires for sports wagering. Those allegations remain disputed, and the subpoena petition does not itself establish that the company violated the law.
The immediate request seeks document production, not a court order imposing the potential civil penalties described in the filing. The commission argues that Kalshi’s refusal to provide the requested material is obstructing its investigation despite earlier court decisions declining to block enforcement.
“Despite multiple court rulings declining to enjoin the Gaming Commission from enforcing the Racing Law, Kalshi nonetheless refuses to comply with key Subpoena requests necessary to assess the scope of Kalshi’s operations in New York,” the petition states.
The New York disputes are part of the broader nationwide jurisdictional fight over sports event contracts that appears headed for the U.S. Supreme Court, and the subpoena enforcement proceeding is separate from the federal litigation over regulatory authority.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied Kalshi’s request for a preliminary injunction to block NYSGC gambling enforcement of cease-and-desist orders the regulator sent in October 2025. Kalshi promptly sued the state.
In April, the CFTC sued New York, seeking a declaration that federal law gives the agency exclusive authority over event contracts and an injunction against state enforcement of allegedly preempted laws against its registrants.
The New York disputes are part of the broader nationwide jurisdictional fight over sports event contracts that appears headed for the U.S. Supreme Court.
