Kalshi accuses Nevada investigators of violating federal law in geofencing complaint

Sarah Davis Sat, August 15, 2026 at 6:14 PM UTC

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Kalshi is pushing back against the state of Nevada’s claims that the prediction market operator failed to comply with geofencing requirements, accusing the state’s gaming regulator of violating federal law.

In a motion filed in state court on Friday evening, state prosecutors argued that the firm failed to implement a geofencing solution by Aug. 12 and that its investigators were able to place “nine separate trades” on the platform a day after the court-ordered deadline passed.

This geofencing measure would prevent users in Nevada from placing trades on the platform, in line with current restrictions on the firm’s operations in the state.

State attorneys requested the court impose a penalty of $120,000 per day past the Aug. 12 deadline, in addition to covering the state’s legal fees in this case.

This followed Nevada’s June statement that investigators were able to place 20 bets on the platform during a time when there were “many major sporting events,”, including the NBA playoffs, Stanley Cup playoffs and FIFA World Cup.

“Kalshi took in billions of dollars on wagers on these and other events each week,” state attorneys wrote in their Friday motion, referring to the June time period.

However, the firm alleged in a Friday letter ahead of the state’s court filing that Nevada’s gaming regulator “violated federal law by misrepresenting their residence to Kalshi” with their latest trades.

Additionally, Kalshi said the company identified “at least one instance” in which investigators “actively worked to circumvent” Kalshi’s blocking measures.

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The Hill has reached out to the Nevada Attorney General’s office regarding these claims.

Rick Heaslip, Kalshi’s general counsel and chief regulatory officer, said in a Saturday statement that the company “went above and beyond” to implement the geofencing solution by the required deadline.

“We hired a state-approved vendor and Nevada every step of the way, with no response,” Heaslip wrote on social media. “Instead of engaging, they falsified information (breaking federal law) to hunt for a loophole and manufacture another legal grievance. We addressed it within hours, but they ran to court anyway.

“This is not the behavior of a regulator trying to protect consumers – it is a vindictive waste of taxpayer dollars at the bidding of casinos,” he continued.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford said in his Friday motion that the company submitted an update with this new geofencing solution to the Apple and Android app stores on Aug. 9.

Ford argued that the solution date did not allow sufficient time for users to update their apps by the court’s deadline.

“Kalshi should have known that the required- process would take time,” Ford wrote. “It knew that, once it releases an app, the update is not immediately available to all users and that it can take up to seven days for the update to become available … Kalshi’s delay made it impossible for it to ensure all users would be running the app by the court’s deadline.”

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