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New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced Thursday he is suing the prediction market Kalshi
The suit claims that Kalshi is taking sports bets while evading state laws regulating online gambling
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez has announced he is suing the popular prediction market Kalshi, claiming the site takes sports bets from state residents while evading state laws regulating online gambling.
Online/mobile casino and sports gambling are not currently permitted in New Mexico. Legal sports wagering in the state is limited to in-person betting at tribal casinos operating under tribal gaming compacts. New Mexico was among the first states to begin allowing sports betting following the U.S. Supreme Court overturning The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) in May of 2018.
"The only lawful gaming in New Mexico operates either under tribal-state gaming compacts, or under strict state regulations to ensure honest gaming free from corruption, and licenses gaming operators only after they explain how they plan to address compulsive gambling," Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement announcing the lawsuit against Kalshi. "Kalshi has ignored that framework entirely while offering online sports betting within the state."
With this lawsuit, New Mexico joins nearly a dozen U.S. states that have engaged in legal battles with Kalshi.
Torrez's lawsuit comes on the heels of one filed last month by Pojoaque, Sandia and Isleta pueblos and the Mescalero Apache Reservation, similarly arguing Kalshi is violating state gambling compacts and federal laws regulating Indian gaming by making it possible for people to bet on tribal lands.
"Despite looking like a sportsbook, acting like a sportsbook, and proverbially quacking like a sportsbook, neither Kalshi nor any of its subsidiaries have sought licensure from New Mexico’s Gaming Control Board or otherwise abided by the State’s laws governing gambling and gaming within its borders," states Torrez's suit, which was filed in state District Court in Santa Fe and has been assigned to Judge Matthew Wilson.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
