GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The federal government is appealing a decision by a Green Bay-based federal judge which would have allowed Wisconsin to enforce its sports betting laws against commodity trading websites, such as Kalshi and CDNA.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal agency, filed suit against Wisconsin and four other states. The CFTC argued that the sports-related event contracts are swaps, a type of financial derivative regulated exclusively by federal commodities law, which preempts the Wisconsin gambling statutes as applied to such contracts. Wisconsin claimed that the companies that are offering these “event contracts” are facilitating sports betting, a form of illegal gambling under Wisconsin law.
The July 29 decision by Judge William Griesbach ruled against the CFTC.
“Wisconsin’s gambling statutes do not conflict with federal commodities regulations and are not preempted by them,” the decision stated.
Another hearing in the case was planned for Tuesday, but that was canceled after the CFTC, Kalshi, and the American Gaming Association filed appeals with the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, court records show.
The first briefs are due in about a month. No hearings have been scheduled.
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