Polymarket filed a lawsuit on Monday in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, seeking to block the state from enforcing its gambling laws against the company’s sports prediction contracts.

The complaint names Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell and state gaming regulators as defendants and argues that federal oversight preempts state authority in regulating prediction markets.

The filing comes days after a Massachusetts state judge declined to pause a preliminary ban on Kalshi’s sports event contracts while the company appeals the ruling. The judge had determined that Kalshi was subject to state gaming laws and required a license to offer sports contracts in Massachusetts, rejecting arguments that federal regulation displaced state authority.

Polymarket said the Massachusetts action against Kalshi created an “immediate and concrete” threat of enforcement against its own platform. The company warned that similar action would cause irreparable harm by disrupting operations, fragmenting its national market, and forcing it to “choose between exercising its federal right to operate nationwide or submitting to unlawful state coercion.”

In its complaint, Polymarket said it sought to prevent “imminent and irreparable harm arising from Massachusetts’s enforcement of state gambling laws against federally regulated derivatives exchanges – enforcement Congress has expressly prohibited.”

The platform described any state action against prediction markets as “meritless” enforcement and argued that punitive measures would reduce liquidity, jeopardize banking and commercial relationships, and undermine user trust.

“Immediate judicial intervention is necessary to uphold Congress’ mandate, protect the federal market structure, and safeguard the rights of users nationwide,” Polymarket stated in the filing.

The company’s legal position follows the industry’s argument that prediction markets fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Polymarket, Kalshi, Crypto.com, and other platforms have maintained that CFTC oversight of event contracts preempts state-level gambling regulation.

Neal Kumar, Polymarket’s chief legal officer, confirmed the lawsuit in a post on social media, linking it directly to the Kalshi ruling. “Congress gave the CFTC, not states, exclusive authority over event contracts,” Kumar wrote. “These are national markets with critical questions that must be resolved in federal court.”

Kumar also criticized state regulators’ efforts to block prediction markets through litigation. “Racing to state court to try to shut down Polymarket US and other prediction markets doesn’t change federal law – and states like MA and NV that have done so will miss an amazing opportunity to help build markets for tomorrow,” he said.

“As always, we continue to welcome dialogue with other states while the federal courts consider these important issues. We fight for the users.”

Polymarket has already faced setbacks in other jurisdictions. In Nevada, a judge ruled in favor of the state in a lawsuit against the platform, after which Polymarket vacated the jurisdiction. On the same day as the Massachusetts ruling against Kalshi, a federal judge in Nevada denied Coinbase’s request for an order shielding it from an enforcement action brought by the state’s attorney general and gaming commission.

Robinhood, which partners with Kalshi and another prediction market platform, is also seeking a preliminary injunction in federal court in Massachusetts to block Campbell from forcing it to comply with the state’s sports gambling licensing regime.

Polymarket is represented by Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo PC. The case is QCX LLC v. Campbell, No. 1:26-cv-10651, complaint filed Feb. 9, 2026.

Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2026/02/10/117538-polymarket-challenges-massachusetts-enforcement-as-legal-pressure-mounts-on-prediction-platforms

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