Nevada has won a preliminary injunction against Polymarket, adding another court win to its campaign against prediction markets that look a lot like betting in a nicer suit.
Judge Sides With Nevada Regulators
The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) said Judge Jason Woodbury of the First Judicial District Court granted its motion for a preliminary injunction against QCX LLC, doing business as Polymarket US, on May 29. The board said a written order is still to come.
NGCB Chairman Mike Dreitzer welcomed the ruling, saying the board would keep enforcing Nevada law to protect gaming in the state. The regulator’s position is simple enough: sports event contracts, plus some other event contracts, count as wagering under Nevada law and require a state gaming license.
That is not great news for Polymarket, which lets users trade on the outcomes of real-world events rather than bet against a sportsbook. Nevada is treating that distinction as window dressing when the underlying product involves sports, elections, entertainment, and similar outcomes.
Nevada Keeps Running The Table
Polymarket is not the only prediction market operator caught in Nevada’s net. The NGCB said Kalshi and Coinbase are already barred from offering or facilitating sports, election, and entertainment-related event contracts in the state because of earlier preliminary injunction orders.
Crypto.com and Robinhood have also stopped offering sports event contracts in Nevada, according to the state’s update cited by Gambling Insider. That gives Nevada a clean early scorecard against known unlicensed prediction market operators in its market.
The state’s broader message to the industry is not subtle: call it an event contract, a prediction market, or a probability trade, but do not bring it into Nevada without a gaming license if the product walks and talks like a wager.
Federal Fight Still Looms Large
This is only one front in a much bigger battle over who gets the final say. A separate federal appeal involving Kalshi, Robinhood, and Crypto.com remains pending before the Ninth Circuit, with the central question being whether the Commodity Exchange Act gives the CFTC exclusive authority over event contracts.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has been pushing back against state crackdowns elsewhere. In May, the federal regulator sued Minnesota over a law that would make operating or helping run a prediction market a felony, and asked for an injunction before the law’s August 1 start date.
Polymarket has also sued Minnesota, arguing the state’s ban is preempted by federal law and violates the First Amendment. Minnesota’s law targets prediction markets tied to sports, elections, wars, legal proceedings, public figures, and pop culture outcomes, and it also reaches service providers such as payment processors, geolocation firms, ID checks, advertisers, and data vendors.
Why Regular Players Should Care
For the average online casino or sportsbook player, this fight matters because it could decide whether prediction markets become a parallel betting lane with looser rules, lower tax burdens, and different consumer protections.
Nevada sportsbooks operate under strict licensing, compliance, and responsible gambling rules. Prediction markets argue they are federally regulated financial products, not state-regulated gambling. That gap is the whole ballgame.
If the states win, platforms such as Polymarket may need gaming licenses to offer sports-style markets in key jurisdictions. If the platforms and the CFTC win, players could see more event-contract products sitting beside traditional sportsbooks, though likely with a very different rulebook. Either way, Nevada has made its stance clear: in the Silver State, the house may not always win, but the regulator usually gets a seat at the table.
