Wisconsin lawsuits accuse the leading prediction market operators of creating a public nuisance with their sports contracts
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has joined the fight against prediction market sports contracts, filing complaints against Coinbase, Crypto.com, Kalshi, Polymarket, and Robinhood.
The Attorney General’s complaints allege that the prediction market operators are flouting Wisconsin law by disguising the sports betting they facilitate on their online platforms as “event contracts”.
AG Kaul also accuses the prediction market platforms of violating Wisconsin’s gambling laws by collecting a fee on every bet.
“Thinly disguising unlawful conduct doesn’t make it lawful,” said AG Kaul. “These companies’ alleged facilitation of sports betting in Wisconsin should be shut down.”
Wisconsin DOJ’s lawsuits, filed on Thursday in Dane County, request a declaration that, by making sports-related event contracts available for trading by customers located in Wisconsin, the defendant companies are violating Wis. Stat. § 945.03(1m) and thereby creating a public nuisance.
The complaints also request preliminary and permanent injunctions to stop the defendant companies from making sports-related event contracts available for trading in Wisconsin.
The legal action by Wisconsin’s Attorney General comes two weeks after Governor Tony Evers signed a bill that will allow Wisconsin’s Native American tribes to offer online sports betting to players across the state.