A Nevada federal court judge has denied Crypto.com’s bid for an injunction that would allow it to run sports contracts.
Judge Andrew Gordon refused the injunction that would have allowed the company to continue operating contracts for sports events in the state. This comes as something of a surprise to the industry, considering prediction market Kalshi has been allowed to operate very similar services.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board first banned Crypto.com from sports outcome contracts in June 2025, stating that such contracts need to be classified as federally regulated swaps, rather than gambling products. This put them under the powers of the CFTC.
Crypto.com versus Kalshi in Nevada
While Judge Gordon agreed that the CFTC had jurisdiction in Kalshi’s case, he didn’t apply the same argument to Crypto.com. Instead, the judge maintained that Crypto.com’s sports prediction contracts are based on the outcomes of sporting events rather than their occurrence or non-occurrence.
NEW: Nevada federal judge explains on the record that because https://t.co/jeBmEO4GSa’s sports prediction contracts are based on the “outcomes” of sporting events rather than their “occurrence” or “non-occurrence” they do not qualify as “swaps” under the CEA. pic.twitter.com/RrMyytB2ZC
— Daniel Wallach (@WALLACHLEGAL) October 6, 2025
“I see ‘outcome’ as different than ‘occurrence, non-occurrence, or extent of contingency of occurrence,’” said Judge Gordon, according to court records. “They’re just different things. If they were all the same, everything would be a swap, and that’s not what I think Congress intended or the CFTC intended.”
That means that they do not qualify as swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA). Crypto.com intends to appeal the decision from Judge Gordon before the Ninth Circuit. This could be because the CFTC is under increasing pressure from traditional sports betting operators to decide whether such sports contracts are legal or not, with that determination still pending.
The competition to get into sports contracts is heating up, with Polymarket also taking its first steps to launch legal sports betting options. It’s raised concerns among regulators – but doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
Featured image: Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
