Is Kalshi legal in Montana?

Explainer · Updated August 13, 2026 · 18+ · Not legal advice · By BetG8 Editorial · Prediction Markets

Montana is one of the few states where the dispute has produced a visible change on the platform rather than just a docket entry. After a second cease-and-desist letter in April 2026, sports event contracts stopped being offered to Montana users. That makes it a more informative case than the states where everyone is arguing and nothing has moved: Montana shows what enforcement looks like when it actually bites.

The timeline

What the 2025 agreement actually said

The dispute turns on a narrow question of contract reading rather than constitutional law. In April 2025 Montana agreed not to enforce against Kalshi while litigation elsewhere played out. A year later the Gambling Control Division’s chief legal counsel took the position that the standstill was tied to a particular injunction remaining in effect — and that once the legal landscape shifted, the state was free to act again. Kalshi’s response was that the agreement contained no such condition and that the state had rewritten it after the fact.

That matters beyond Montana. Kalshi has reached informal or negotiated standstills with several regulators as a way of buying time without conceding the legal point. If a state can exit one by reinterpreting its scope, those arrangements are worth considerably less than Kalshi assumed when it made them.

Why Montana is a harder state for the preemption argument

Montana’s sports wagering is a state-run lottery monopoly, not a licensed commercial market. That changes the shape of the argument. In a commercial-licence state, Kalshi can frame the fight as one private company being kept out to protect incumbent operators. In Montana the state is the operator. Enforcement is not just gaming regulation; it is protection of a public revenue stream that funds state programmes directly.

Courts are not supposed to weigh that, and formally it does not change the preemption analysis one way or the other. In practice, a state defending its own lottery presents a more sympathetic posture than a state defending a private licensee’s market share, and Montana’s filings have leaned on it.

Where Montana sits in the national picture

What Montana users can and cannot access

Reporting indicates sports event contracts are not offered to Montana accounts, while non-sports markets — elections, economic indicators, weather, cultural events — remain available. This is the pattern Kalshi has followed in every state where it has restricted access: geolocation-based limits on the specific contract categories under challenge, rather than a full withdrawal.

The distinction is deliberate. Almost no state has argued that a contract on an inflation print or an election outcome is a sports bet, and the CFTC’s authority over those is far less contested. Narrowing to the sports contracts lets Kalshi keep the rest of the business running in a hostile state while the courts sort out the disputed category.

What to watch next

Three things will decide Montana. The first is the federal court’s reading of the 2025 agreement, which could resolve the case without touching preemption at all. The second is the Fourth Circuit’s pending Maryland decision — a second appellate ruling either deepens the split with the Third Circuit or starts to settle it. The third is Congress, where tribal gaming groups and the American Gaming Association have been pressing for statutory language that would place sports event contracts outside the Commodity Exchange Act entirely. A federal statute would end the argument in every state at once, Montana included.

Frequently asked questions

Is Kalshi legal in Montana?

Kalshi still operates in Montana but sports event contracts are reported unavailable there. The state Gambling Control Division issued a cease-and-desist on April 6, 2026 and Kalshi sued the Attorney General on April 13. The legality question is being litigated in federal court.

Why can I not see sports markets on Kalshi in Montana?

Kalshi restricts sports event contracts by geolocation in states where regulators have ordered it to stop. Montana issued such an order in April 2026. Non-sports markets are generally still available.

Did Montana and Kalshi have an agreement?

Yes. In April 2025 Montana agreed not to enforce against Kalshi while the Nevada litigation was pending. In April 2026 the state took the position that the agreement was conditional on a related injunction staying in force. Kalshi says that mischaracterises what was agreed.

How can I bet on sports legally in Montana?

Through Sports Bet Montana, run by the Montana Lottery and sold at licensed retail locations. Montana has no commercial mobile sportsbook market, which is part of why the prediction market question carries weight there.

Is Polymarket available in Montana?

Polymarket has faced state cease-and-desist orders elsewhere, including Connecticut. Availability in any given state changes with enforcement activity, so check the platform directly rather than relying on a published list.

What age do you have to be to use Kalshi?

18+. That floor is set by the exchange. Montana Lottery sports wagering has its own separate age requirement under state law.

Sources

• SBC Americas — Kalshi sues State of Montana after second cease-and-desist
• Bozeman Daily Chronicle — Montana AG says Kalshi violates state gambling laws
• Sports Betting Dime — Kalshi sues Montana after second cease-and-desist
• The Gaming Boardroom — Kalshi seeks court intervention in Montana
• Epstein Becker Green — Prediction markets v. state gaming laws

Next: Colorado, where the state is losing tax revenue and not acting

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