Is Kalshi legal in Washington, DC?
DC at a glance
| Question | Position as of 13 October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Does Kalshi accept DC users? | Yes, with no District-specific restriction reported |
| Has DC issued a cease-and-desist? | No publicly reported order |
| Is DC in the Kalshi litigation? | Only as an amicus: on the 39-state brief of 7 October 2026 |
| Legal sportsbooks | Five district-wide apps: FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars, DraftKings, Fanatics, plus arena and stadium retail books |
| Regulator | DC Office of Lottery and Gaming |
| Minimum betting age | 18 (some operators set 21) |
| Tax on gross revenue | 20% Class A, 10% Class B, 30% Class C since 1 August 2024 |
| Federal circuit | D.C. Circuit, no ruling on state or District regulation of event contracts |
How DC set it up, and then set it up again
The District legalised sports betting with the Sports Wagering Lottery Amendment Act of 2018, which cleared congressional review in May 2019. The first model was a lottery monopoly: GambetDC, a platform run for the Office of Lottery and Gaming by its contractor, launched in May 2020 and could be used district-wide, while commercial books such as Caesars at Capital One Arena and BetMGM at Nationals Park were confined to a radius around their venues. GambetDC was widely judged a failure on product and on revenue, and in April 2024 FanDuel replaced it as the lottery's platform.
Three months later the Council went further. The Sports Wagering Amendment Act of 2024 took effect on 15 July 2024 and opened the whole District to licensed mobile operators. BetMGM and Caesars launched district-wide apps on 17 July 2024, DraftKings and Fanatics followed, and the tax changed on 1 August from a flat 10 percent of gross revenue to a three-tier structure: 20 percent for Class A operators, 10 percent for Class B, and 30 percent for the new Class C licence written for sports teams. The effect on the numbers was immediate. Handle went from $170 million in 2023 to $462 million in 2024 and $856 million in 2025, when operators kept $94.7 million and paid $22.1 million in tax.
In 2026 the market has drifted: monthly handle ran between $64 million and $76 million from January to July and fell to $53.8 million in August, the lowest month of the year. How much of that is prediction markets, nobody in the District has tried to measure.
The one thing DC has actually done
The District's name appears once in the national fight. On 7 October 2026 Ohio Attorney General D. Andrew Wilson filed an amicus brief in Flaherty v. KalshiEX, No. 26-299, on behalf of 38 other states and the District of Columbia, supporting New Jersey's petition for certiorari. The brief argues that the platforms' preemption theory intrudes on state sovereignty, raises a major-questions problem by handing a federal agency authority Congress did not clearly give it, and strips residents of the protections built into local gambling law. It asks the Court to grant review because the circuits are split and the states and the CFTC are at an impasse. Massachusetts, New Mexico, Maine and Maryland are on the same brief; so is Delaware, which like DC has sent no letter of its own.
That is a position, not an action. DC has not followed Missouri, which sent six companies 30-day letters on 18 September, or Ohio, which gave ten companies until 16 October, or Michigan into court. And unlike Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, New York and New Mexico, it has not been sued by the CFTC, because there is nothing to sue over.
Why the age argument does not work here
In most states the sharpest line against Kalshi is age. Licensed sportsbooks hold the line at 21; Kalshi, as a CFTC-registered exchange, takes customers at 18. New Mexico's tribes put the gap at the centre of their injunction motion, Missouri's attorney general cited it in her letters, and the NFL's Supreme Court brief asks for a 21-plus floor. The District cannot make that argument. Its own minimum age for legal sports betting is 18, one of the few jurisdictions in the country where that is true, and it has lived with it since 2020. Some operators, BetMGM and Caesars among them, set their own 21-plus policy, but the law does not require it.
What DC can argue is money and licensing. A sports event contract traded by a DC resident on Kalshi pays no share of the 20 percent Class A tax and no licence fee. In a market that produced $22 million of tax last year the incentive to act is real but small, and the District is a city government rather than a state attorney general with a gaming division. That, more than any legal view, is probably why nothing has happened.
The D.C. Circuit and the case that never got decided
DC is also where the first Kalshi case was fought, and it was a different fight. The CFTC refused to let Kalshi list contracts on which party would control Congress; Kalshi sued, won in the District Court in September 2024, and the CFTC appealed to the D.C. Circuit, which heard argument in January 2025. In May 2025 the new Commission asked to drop its own appeal and the court agreed. No opinion was ever issued, which is why election contracts trade today on an unappealed district court ruling rather than a circuit precedent.
None of that touches the question on this page. The D.C. Circuit has never considered whether a state, or the District, can apply its gambling laws to a sports event contract, and no case is pending that would ask it to. DC therefore sits outside all three of the circuit rulings that matter: the Third Circuit's April 2026 decision for Kalshi against New Jersey, the Ninth Circuit's 28 August decision for Nevada, and the Sixth Circuit's 25 September decision for Ohio and Tennessee. If the Supreme Court takes New Jersey's case, its answer will bind the District like everyone else. Until then the District is governed by whatever it decides to do, and it has decided to do nothing.
What this means in practice
A DC resident today can open a Kalshi account at 18 and can also use five licensed sportsbooks at 18. Neither fact is a legal opinion, and the first could change if the Attorney General or the Office of Lottery and Gaming chooses to act, as Ohio did with a single batch of letters on 2 October. Kalshi has geofenced states after orders were issued, so present access is not a guarantee of continued access. Every dated action is in the prediction market change log, and the current map is in the Kalshi legality tracker.
For the neighbouring state that has actually litigated, see Maryland; for a state on the same amicus brief with the same empty enforcement record, see Virginia. For how the two products differ in cost, see sportsbooks versus prediction markets. This page describes the regulatory position. It is not legal advice and not a recommendation to trade or wager anything.
Frequently asked questions
Is Kalshi legal in Washington, DC?
Kalshi operates in the District of Columbia and no publicly reported DC cease-and-desist order, lawsuit or regulatory finding targets it as of 13 October 2026. The District has not been sued by the CFTC and has not sued any prediction market. That is the practical position, not a ruling that sports event contracts are lawful under DC law.
Has the District taken any official position on prediction markets?
One. The District of Columbia joined the amicus brief led by Ohio and filed on 7 October 2026 in Flaherty v. KalshiEX, No. 26-299, which asks the Supreme Court to hear New Jersey's appeal and argues that the platforms' preemption theory intrudes on state sovereignty. It is a brief, not an enforcement action.
Who regulates sports betting in DC?
The DC Office of Lottery and Gaming. Five district-wide mobile operators are licensed: FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars, DraftKings and Fanatics. The minimum age for legal sports betting in DC is 18, although some operators set their own 21+ floor.
What tax do DC sportsbooks pay?
Since 1 August 2024, Class A operators pay 20 percent of gross sports wagering revenue, Class B operators 10 percent and Class C operators 30 percent, under the Sports Wagering Amendment Act of 2024. Before that every operator paid 10 percent. Kalshi pays none of it because it holds no DC licence.
Which federal circuit covers DC, and has it ruled?
The D.C. Circuit. It has not decided whether a state or the District can apply its gambling laws to a CFTC-registered exchange. It did host the 2024 Kalshi v. CFTC election contract case, which ended in May 2025 when the CFTC dropped its own appeal, so the circuit never issued an opinion.
Sources
- DC Office of Tax and Revenue, Sports wagering tax, for the Class A, B and C rates effective 1 August 2024 under the Sports Wagering Amendment Act of 2024.
- RG.org, Washington DC sports betting revenue statistics, for the 2025 totals and the January to August 2026 monthly figures reported by the Office of Lottery and Gaming.
- Fox Sports, Washington DC sports betting, for the 18+ minimum age and the list of live operators.
- Covers, Washington DC sports betting sites in 2026, for the GambetDC to FanDuel transition in April 2024 and the July 2024 market opening.
- Supreme Court of the United States, Brief of Ohio, 38 other states and the District of Columbia as amici curiae, No. 26-299, 7 October 2026.
- SBC Americas, DC court approves dismissal of Kalshi and CFTC election market case, 8 May 2025.
18+ only. Prediction market contracts and sports wagering carry real financial risk. This page is analysis, not legal, financial or betting advice. If gambling stops being fun, help is available at 1-800-GAMBLER.