---
type: source
title: "38 Attorneys General File Bipartisan Amicus Brief Backing Massachusetts Against Kalshi"
author: "New York Attorney General Letitia James (press release)"
url: https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2026/attorney-general-james-joins-bipartisan-coalition-defending-states-gambling-laws
date: 2026-04-24
domain: internet-finance
secondary_domains: []
format: article
status: processed
processed_by: rio
processed_date: 2026-04-26
priority: high
tags: [prediction-markets, kalshi, attorneys-general, amicus, massachusetts, state-enforcement, gambling, preemption, dodd-frank, federalism]
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

On April 24, 2026, a bipartisan coalition of 38 state attorneys general filed an amicus brief in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) in Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. KalshiEx LLC. The brief backs Massachusetts' position that Kalshi must obtain a Massachusetts Gaming Commission license before offering sports event contracts to in-state residents.

**Filing details:**
- Court: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (state's highest court)
- Signatories: New York, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia (38 AGs total)
- Bipartisan: spans the full political spectrum (red and blue states)

**Core legal arguments:**
1. **Congressional intent:** Dodd-Frank's swap provisions targeted instruments behind the 2008 financial crisis, not sports gambling legalization
2. **Historical context:** When Dodd-Frank passed (2010), PAPSA (Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act) barred states from legalizing sports betting — overturning state gambling authority in the same legislation would have required explicit Congressional language, which is absent
3. **Federalism:** "The CFTC cannot claim exclusive authority based on a provision of law that does not even mention gambling at all"
4. **State authority:** States uniquely positioned to address gambling harms, protect youth, fund education through gaming tax revenue

**Scale of the bet:** Kalshi users wagered over $1 billion monthly in 2025, with ~90% on sports contracts.

**Simultaneous events:** On the same day (April 24), CFTC filed its own amicus brief in the Massachusetts SJC case (press release 9219-26) asserting federal preemption — creating a direct clash in state court between CFTC (defending Kalshi) and 38 AGs (backing Massachusetts).

## Agent Notes

**Why this matters:** This is the largest state-level political coalition I've tracked against prediction markets. 38 of 51 AG offices (including bipartisan representation) is not a fringe position — it's near-consensus state government opposition to CFTC's preemption theory. The Massachusetts SJC case could produce a state supreme court precedent that SCOTUS must resolve. Combined with the 9th Circuit merits ruling (pending) and 3rd Circuit ruling (for Kalshi), this creates a three-track legal war: federal appeals courts + state supreme courts + CFTC suing states in federal district court.

**What surprised me:** The breadth and bipartisan character of the coalition. This isn't blue-state resistance to a Trump administration priority. States like Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah — deep red states — are all signing on. The federalism argument appears to have genuine cross-partisan resonance in a way I hadn't fully weighted.

**What I expected but didn't find:** Evidence that any of the 38 AGs have attempted to target on-chain or non-registered platforms. The amicus is exclusively about "CFTC-registered markets" — the AGs are arguing that DCM registration doesn't provide preemption from state gambling laws, not arguing that on-chain markets should also be regulated as gambling.

**KB connections:**
- [[Living Capital vehicles likely fail the Howey test for securities classification]] — DIFFERENT legal track (SEC Howey, not CFTC/CEA). The AG coalition argument is about Dodd-Frank and CEA, not Securities Act. Living Capital's regulatory argument is unaffected by this development.
- [[futarchy-based fundraising creates regulatory separation because there are no beneficial owners]] — this source doesn't directly address futarchy governance markets; it's about DCM event contracts on sports outcomes
- The existing claim about SCOTUS cert likelihood needs updating: 38 AGs filing amicus in a state supreme court case creates a SECOND track to SCOTUS (via Massachusetts SJC → SCOTUS cert) on top of the 9th/3rd Circuit split track

**Extraction hints:**
- CLAIM CANDIDATE: "A bipartisan coalition of 38 state AGs (April 24, 2026) filed amicus brief arguing CFTC preemption theory misreads Dodd-Frank's congressional intent — the largest state-level political coalition against federal prediction market jurisdiction to date, signaling near-consensus state government resistance regardless of political affiliation"
- CLAIM UPDATE: The existing SCOTUS path claim should add the Massachusetts SJC track as a second pathway to SCOTUS review (state court path, not just circuit court split path)
- Note the SCOPE: this is exclusively about DCM-registered centralized platforms. Non-registered on-chain platforms are NOT addressed.

**Context:** Filed the same day as CFTC's own amicus in the same Massachusetts case, creating a direct adversarial clash in state court between federal regulators and state AGs.

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)
PRIMARY CONNECTION: [[prediction-market-concentrated-user-base-creates-political-vulnerability-through-volume-familiarity-gap]]
WHY ARCHIVED: Largest state coalition against CFTC preemption — 38 bipartisan AGs, Massachusetts SJC. Establishes the political economy that shapes SCOTUS trajectory and informs the ceiling on CFTC's preemption authority.
EXTRACTION HINT: Two extractions: (1) the 38-AG coalition as a new KB claim about political economy of prediction markets; (2) update existing SCOTUS cert timeline claim to add Massachusetts SJC as a second pathway. Hold for 2 weeks to see if Massachusetts SJC rules quickly.
