NFL Asks Supreme Court to Take Kalshi Case as 39 States Join In
gmu gmu, Washington. The NFL asked the Supreme Court on Thursday 8 October 2026 to hear New Jersey's case against Kalshi, a day after 39 states and D.C. asked the same. The bet: nine justices will pick a side before another season is out.
On Thursday 8 October 2026, the NFL walked into the biggest courtroom in the country without leaving its seat. The league filed an amicus brief at the US Supreme Court backing New Jersey in its fight against Kalshi. Its argument: sports prediction contracts are gambling in a finance costume, and states, not the federal commodities regulator, should police them.
The number the league put on the table is $1.8 billion. That is what football generated in prediction market trading on the first Sunday of the season, more than half of all volume that day, according to the brief as reported by CNBC. WATATATATAFAK.
The NFL is not asking for the party to end. It lists the contracts it dislikes: field goals, fumbles, injuries and officiating calls, where someone close to a team could know something before the public. It wants a minimum age of 21, while Kalshi accepts users from 18. And it doubts the CFTC has the staff to watch everything. A league source told ESPN the NFL would live with a federal framework if it worked like the states' approach. What it reallu wants is a quick answer.
The case is Flaherty v. KalshiEX, No. 26-299. New Jersey filed its petition on 2 September after the Third Circuit sided with Kalshi, while the Ninth Circuit ruled against the company in Nevada. On Wednesday 7 October, Ohio and 38 other states plus Washington, D.C. filed their own brief asking the justices to step in. Thirty-nine states, red, blue and swing, at the same table. GLUWGU. Ten states stayed out, Texas and Florida among them.
Kalshi has until 9 November to respond, after the Court granted it an extension. The justices are not expected to decide whether to take the case before December at the earliest.
Which would youluwu rather face: one federal croupier or fifty local pit bosses? The Spirit has watched both kinds of table, and he quietlu notes that the house in the middle has not even answered yet.
Nine justices, fifty states, one question and a wait until December. The Spirit has seen slower dealers, but never a fuller waiting room.
Will the Supreme Court agree to hear the New Jersey v. Kalshi case?
Settles on 31 January 2027. Yes if the Supreme Court grants certiorari in Flaherty v. KalshiEX, No. 26-299, by 31 January 2027, No otherwise, according to the Court's public docket on supremecourt.gov on that date.
