Prediction markets in New Jersey: is Kalshi legal, and what happens next?

Here’s what’s legal today, how these markets work, and why the answer may change.

NJ prediction market apps by category: what each one offers

• For sports contracts: Kalshi — lists NFL, NHL and other pro sports contracts in New Jersey under a federal court injunction.
• For the US version of Polymarket: Polymarket US — a CFTC-regulated exchange, though reports differ on whether it’s opening new New Jersey accounts.
• For finance and economics markets: FanDuel Predicts — contracts on events such as Fed rate decisions; no sports contracts in New Jersey.
• For short-term index and commodity markets: DraftKings Predictions — hour-long markets on prices such as gold and the S&P 500; no sports contracts in New Jersey.
• For crypto exchange customers: OG — Crypto.com’s standalone prediction market app; Crypto.com doesn’t offer sports markets in New Jersey.
• For brokerage customers: Robinhood — event contracts inside a trading app; its New Jersey sports markets have changed since the state’s 2025 cease-and-desist letter.

Prediction market apps in NJ: a platform-by-platform guide

Kalshi NJ: sports contracts under a federal injunction

Kalshi is a federally regulated exchange overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. It holds no New Jersey license and has no Atlantic City partner, and that’s the heart of the dispute with the state. New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement ordered it to stop offering sports contracts in March 2025. Kalshi sued, won a preliminary injunction that April, and the Third Circuit upheld it on April 6, 2026.

The result is that Kalshi operates in New Jersey across all its categories, including sports, economics, politics and weather. Users must be 18. Contracts trade between 1 cent and 99 cents and pay $1 if the event happens. Kalshi charges a trading fee that’s highest when a contract is priced near 50 cents. Sports drive its business: in March 2026, sports contracts made up about two-thirds of its trading.

Kalshi isn’t covered by New Jersey’s self-exclusion program. Its status here could change if the Supreme Court takes New Jersey’s appeal.

Polymarket US NJ: the regulated US version, with uneven access

Polymarket US is the federally regulated American version of Polymarket, the prediction market that grew up offshore. Polymarket built its US business on QCEX, a CFTC-licensed exchange and clearinghouse it bought in 2025, so like Kalshi it operates under federal rather than state oversight. It has no New Jersey license.

Its markets include sports, among them NFL and college football games, alongside politics, economics and culture. The minimum age is 18 in most states.

Access from New Jersey is the open question. Industry trackers updated in October 2026 disagree: some list New Jersey as live, while another says New Jersey residents are restricted from opening new accounts. The app’s own eligibility check at sign-up is the reliable answer. As with every prediction market, New Jersey’s self-exclusion program doesn’t apply, and winnings are taxable income at the federal and state level.

FanDuel Predicts NJ: non-sports markets from a licensed sportsbook brand

FanDuel Predicts is FanDuel’s prediction market app, built with CME Group and regulated by the CFTC. It’s separate from FanDuel Sportsbook, which holds a New Jersey license through the Meadowlands Racetrack. FanDuel launched Predicts in five states in December 2025 and rolled the standalone app out in all 50 states in January 2026.

In New Jersey you won’t find sports contracts on it. FanDuel says it doesn’t offer sports event contracts in states where it already runs a sportsbook, so they’re limited to 18 states without one. New Jersey users get the non-sports side: finance, economics and commodities, with markets on questions such as the Federal Reserve’s next rate decision.

That split matters for New Jersey’s legal fight. FanDuel’s sports betting here stays inside the state-licensed sportsbook, under Division of Gaming Enforcement rules, while Predicts sticks to contracts the state isn’t contesting.

DraftKings Predictions NJ: hourly markets, no sports

DraftKings Predictions launched on December 19, 2025. It runs through CME Group, using DraftKings’ status as an introducing broker, and DraftKings also bought Railbird, a CFTC-licensed exchange, in October 2025. Its New Jersey sportsbook is a separate business, licensed through Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City.

Like FanDuel, DraftKings doesn’t offer sports event contracts in any state where it holds a sportsbook license, and New Jersey is one of them. Where sports contracts are offered, they cover game winners and spreads for the NFL, NBA and College Football Playoff, plus NHL game winners. New Jersey users get the non-sports markets instead, such as hour-long contracts on commodities and indices like gold and the S&P 500.

For a New Jersey resident, that makes DraftKings Predictions a markets product, not a sports one. Sports wagering with DraftKings in the state still runs through the licensed sportsbook, where the minimum age is 21.

OG NJ: Crypto.com’s prediction market app

OG is Crypto.com’s standalone prediction market platform, announced in February 2026. It runs on Crypto.com’s CFTC-registered exchange and clearinghouse, so it sits under federal oversight and holds no New Jersey license. The launch focused on sports, with markets on events such as the Super Bowl and March Madness, plus parlays and non-sports event contracts.

New Jersey is one of the states where Crypto.com pulled back on sports. In December 2025, a company spokesperson confirmed it was not live with sports markets in eight states, including New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan and Ohio. Trackers covering New Jersey in late 2026 still list OG without sports contracts here.

That leaves New Jersey users with OG’s non-sports markets. The usual prediction market caveats apply: the minimum age is 18 rather than the sportsbook age of 21, New Jersey’s self-exclusion program doesn’t cover the platform, and profits are taxable.

Robinhood NJ: event contracts inside a brokerage app

Robinhood offers event contracts to customers of its trading app, alongside stocks, options and crypto. It was one of the first two platforms New Jersey targeted. On March 27, 2025, the Division of Gaming Enforcement sent Robinhood and Kalshi cease-and-desist letters over “unauthorized sports wagering.”

Robinhood took a different path from Kalshi. The next day, it blocked New Jersey customers from opening new positions in its March Madness contracts, while Kalshi went to court. Kalshi’s win in the Third Circuit applies to Kalshi, not to every company offering similar contracts.

Sources disagree on what Robinhood offers New Jersey users today, and its market list can change by state and by season. The contracts available in your account are the ones the app shows while you’re located in New Jersey. Robinhood holds no New Jersey gambling license, and its event contracts aren’t covered by the state’s self-exclusion program.

Is Kalshi legal in NJ? The court case so far

Yes, for now. Kalshi operates in New Jersey, including sports contracts, under a federal court injunction that stops the state from enforcing its gambling laws against it.

The short version of the case:

• March 27, 2025: the Division of Gaming Enforcement sends cease-and-desist letters to Kalshi and Robinhood over “unauthorized sports wagering”. Robinhood pulls its NJ March Madness contracts the next day. Kalshi sues.
• April 28, 2025: Judge Edward Kiel of the federal district court in New Jersey grants Kalshi a preliminary injunction.
• April 6, 2026: the Third Circuit Court of Appeals upholds it 2-1. The majority holds that Kalshi’s sports contracts are swaps traded on a CFTC-regulated exchange and fall under the Commodity Exchange Act, so New Jersey can’t regulate them as gambling. Judge Jane Roth dissents, calling Kalshi’s framing “acts of alchemy that transmute its products from sports gambling to futures trading.”
• September 2, 2026: New Jersey asks the US Supreme Court to hear the case (Flaherty v. KalshiEX, No. 26-299). Kalshi’s response is due November 9, 2026. The American Gaming Association, the Casino Association of New Jersey, the NFL and a group of states led by Ohio have filed briefs supporting New Jersey.

The Kalshi circuit split: why other states got a different answer

The courts are split. In August 2026 the Ninth Circuit ruled 3-0 for Nevada, calling Kalshi’s sports contracts “sports gambling, regardless of whether Kalshi calls them swaps.” The Sixth Circuit sided with Ohio and Tennessee weeks later, and a Massachusetts court has blocked Kalshi’s sports markets there since January 2026. When federal appeals courts disagree on the same question, the Supreme Court is more likely to take the case, which is why the NJ petition matters well beyond New Jersey.

How prediction markets work: contracts, prices and fees

A prediction market sells contracts on yes-or-no questions. Each contract pays $1 if the event happens and nothing if it doesn’t, and it trades at a price between 1 cent and 99 cents. The price works as the market’s estimate of the probability: a “Giants win” contract at 35 cents means traders put the Giants’ chances at about 35%.

Unlike a sportsbook, you’re trading with other users, not betting against the house. You can sell a contract before the game ends to lock in a profit or cut a loss, and prices move with every trade. The exchange makes its money from fees. Kalshi’s fee rises as the price approaches 50 cents, where uncertainty is highest, and falls toward the extremes.

Sports now drive most of the volume. In March 2026, sports contracts made up about two-thirds of Kalshi’s trading.

Prediction markets vs NJ sportsbooks: the key differences

The age gap is the one that draws the most criticism: a 19-year-old in New Brunswick can’t open a sportsbook account but can trade NFL contracts on a prediction market.

Which prediction market apps work in NJ: sports vs non-sports

• Kalshi: available in New Jersey across all categories, including sports.
• FanDuel Predicts and DraftKings Predictions: available in New Jersey for non-sports markets such as finance, economics and commodities. Neither offers sports contracts in states where it runs a sportsbook, and both run one in New Jersey.
• OG (Crypto.com): available for non-sports markets. Crypto.com confirmed in December 2025 that it isn’t live with sports markets in New Jersey.
• Polymarket US: the federally regulated US version of Polymarket. Reports differ on whether it’s accepting new New Jersey accounts, so check the app’s eligibility screen before you sign up.
• Brokerage apps: some trading apps, such as Robinhood, offer event contracts through partner exchanges. Robinhood pulled its NJ March Madness contracts after the 2025 cease-and-desist letter; check the app for its current NJ markets.

The future of prediction markets in NJ: the Supreme Court and state bills

• The Supreme Court could take the case and rule on whether federal commodities law overrides state gambling law for sports contracts. A ruling for New Jersey would let the state treat sports event contracts as unlicensed gambling.
• State legislation: two pending bills target prediction markets. S3692 would limit sports contracts to licensed sportsbooks and their partners, require users to be 21, and ban election and death markets. S4447, as amended in June 2026, would put a 9% surcharge on prediction-market operators’ New Jersey income. Neither has passed.

NJ prediction markets FAQ