Baltimore city government sues Kalshi and Polymarket for alleged illegal sports betting, naming Coinbase, Robinhood, and Webull as defendants.
Regulation & Gov ·
Baltimore's Mayor Brandon Scott and City Council have filed suit against prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket, along with trading applications Coinbase, Robinhood, and Webull, over alleged illegal sports betting activities. The lawsuit targets the platforms' role in facilitating wagers that the city claims violate local gambling statutes.
The action treats the cryptocurrency trading platforms and prediction markets as joint defendants in enabling unauthorized betting services within Baltimore's jurisdiction. The suit asserts that these entities have circumvented state and local gambling regulations through crypto-based transaction channels, though the specific statutory violations and claimed damages remain detailed in the filing itself.
The case raises unresolved questions about regulatory authority over decentralized and blockchain-based betting venues, the liability exposure of mainstream fintech platforms hosting such activity, and whether prediction markets constitute illegal gambling under existing municipal law. The outcome may set precedent for how U.S. cities enforce gambling restrictions against crypto-native trading and prediction products.