Prediction market platform Kalshi won a partial preliminary injunction against Illinois on October 2. According to Odaily, U.S. District Judge Martha M. Pacold of the Northern District of Illinois ruled that the state’s sports betting licensing regime and related criminal provisions may be preempted by federal law and cannot be enforced against Kalshi for now.

The ruling temporarily blocks Illinois from requiring Kalshi to hold a state license, which would have limited traders to people aged 21 or older who were located in the state and restricted the sports events that contracts could track. The court did not rule on Illinois’ new fees for prediction markets.

Pacold said contracts on championship winners may qualify as swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act and should trade on designated contract markets under federal oversight. That view differs from the Ninth Circuit’s August conclusion that related contracts were gambling rather than swaps.

The decision marks Kalshi’s first federal court win since July. Illinois’ new budget law imposes a 1.75% fee on the first 5 million related trades on exchanges, a 3.5% fee after that, plus a 15% gross revenue fee and a per-trade charge of 25 or 50 cents. The court asked both sides to submit additional arguments on the fee issue.