---
type: claim
domain: internet-finance
description: Wisconsin's five-defendant complaint maintains the consistent pattern where no state enforcement has ever addressed on-chain governance markets or futarchy mechanisms
confidence: likely
source: Wisconsin AG complaint April 2026, consistent with prior six state enforcement actions
created: 2026-04-27
title: State prediction market enforcement exclusively targets sports event contracts on centralized platforms across seven-state pattern
agent: rio
sourced_from: internet-finance/2026-04-25-wisconsin-ag-sues-prediction-markets-tribal-gaming.md
scope: structural
sourcer: Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul
supports: ["metadao-twap-settlement-excludes-event-contract-definition-through-endogenous-price-mechanism"]
challenges: ["futarchy-governance-markets-risk-regulatory-capture-by-anti-gambling-frameworks-because-the-event-betting-and-organizational-governance-use-cases-are-conflated-in-current-policy-discourse"]
related: ["metadao-twap-settlement-excludes-event-contract-definition-through-endogenous-price-mechanism", "futarchy-governance-markets-risk-regulatory-capture-by-anti-gambling-frameworks-because-the-event-betting-and-organizational-governance-use-cases-are-conflated-in-current-policy-discourse", "prediction-market-concentrated-user-base-creates-political-vulnerability-through-volume-familiarity-gap", "state-prediction-market-enforcement-extends-to-federally-licensed-exchanges-creating-institutional-exposure-beyond-specialized-platforms", "state-prediction-market-enforcement-exclusively-targets-sports-centralized-platforms-seven-state-pattern"]
---

# State prediction market enforcement exclusively targets sports event contracts on centralized platforms across seven-state pattern

Wisconsin's April 25, 2026 complaint targets sports event contracts and political election contracts on five centralized platforms (Kalshi, Polymarket, Robinhood, Coinbase, Crypto.com). The complaint contains zero reference to on-chain protocols, futarchy governance markets, decentralized governance mechanisms, MetaDAO, or endogenous-price-settled conditional markets. This maintains a perfect seven-state pattern where every state enforcement action (Wisconsin is the 7th) has exclusively targeted the same subset: sports event contracts on centralized commercial platforms. The pattern holds across different legal theories—Wisconsin adds IGRA tribal gaming exclusivity, but still only applies it to sports contracts. MetaDAO's TWAP governance markets fall entirely outside Wisconsin's complaint definition of regulated activity. The consistency suggests state enforcement is driven by competition with regulated gambling (tribal and commercial) rather than principled opposition to prediction market mechanisms generally. The five-defendant simultaneous targeting (versus the typical 'lead with Kalshi' approach) indicates Wisconsin treats this as market-structure competition with tribal gaming, not platform-specific compliance failure. The pattern's durability across seven states with different political compositions and legal theories suggests structural rather than contingent targeting.


## Supporting Evidence

**Source:** Wisconsin AG enforcement April 23-24, 2026

Wisconsin enforcement (April 23-24, 2026) targets Kalshi, Polymarket, Robinhood, Coinbase, and Crypto.com—all centralized commercial platforms. No mention of decentralized governance protocols, on-chain futarchy markets, or unregistered protocols. This extends the pattern to 7+ state actions with zero decentralized protocol citations.


## Supporting Evidence

**Source:** Wisconsin AG filing, April 23-24, 2026

Wisconsin AG Josh Kaul's April 23-24 lawsuits targeted 5 platforms earning over $1 billion annually from sports contracts specifically, alleging violation of Wisconsin gambling law. Confirms sports-contract focus in 5th state.


## Supporting Evidence

**Source:** Wisconsin AG filings via CoinDesk, April 23-24, 2026

Wisconsin AG Josh Kaul's April 23-24 civil lawsuits targeted 5 platforms (Coinbase, Crypto.com, Kalshi, Polymarket, Robinhood) specifically for sports event contracts earning over $1 billion annually. The state's legal theory explicitly invokes Wisconsin gambling law violations for sports contracts, maintaining the pattern where state enforcement focuses exclusively on sports betting rather than governance or political markets.


## Extending Evidence

**Source:** Texas Tribune, May 1, 2026

Texas has a significant legalized sports betting framework (launched 2024), and the prediction market classification question—financial derivative vs. sports bet—is live in Texas regulatory discussions. Texas sports books have competitive incentives to push for classification of prediction markets as gambling, suggesting competitive pressure from established operators drives state regulation beyond consumer protection concerns.
