Case 1:25-cv-12578-RGS Document 1 Filed 09/15/25 Page 20 of 28
Commission were permitted also to make a determination about whether event contracts on a
CFTC-regulated exchange were permitted, there would be a direct conflict between federal and
state regulation because the CFTC has already impliedly approved those same event contracts.
See Crosby v. Nat. Foreign Trade Council , 530 U.S. 363, 380 (2000) (conflict preemption exists
where state law “undermines the congressional calibration of force” and is “at odds with
achievement of the federal decision about the right degree of pressure to employ”); De la Cuesta ,
458 U.S. at 153 (conflict preemption exists where “state law stands as an obstacle to the
accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress” (internal
quotation marks omitted)). Here, the CFTC has determined to allow Kalshi’s sports-related
event contracts by taking no action in response to Kalshi’s self-certification of those contracts,
making them legal under federal law, but Massachusetts, in Massachusetts v. Kalshi , is
attempting to preclude trading of those same event contracts by enforcing Massachusetts sports-
wagering laws. The conflict is clear.
F. The CEA’s Preemption of State Gaming Laws as Applied to Sports-Related Event Contracts Includes Those Opened and Traded Through Robinhood’s Platform.
53.
Kalshi and Robinhood participate in transactions involving “swaps or
contracts of sale of a commodity for future delivery” traded on a DCM, and these transactions
therefore fall squarely within the statutory grant of exclusive jurisdiction to the CFTC. See
7 U.S.C. § 2(a)(1)(A) (granting CFTC “exclusive jurisdiction” over all “accounts,
agreements . . . , and transactions involving swaps or contracts of sale of a commodity for future
delivery” that are “traded or executed on a contract market designated” by the CFTC). Because
it is the transaction on a regulated exchange over which the CFTC has exclusive jurisdiction, see
id. , the CFTC must have jurisdiction over the entire transaction and all participants. This
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