Tennessee told Kalshi to stop and a federal court told Tennessee no

Tennessee is the clearest example of a state losing the first round and carrying on anyway. Its Sports Wagering Council ordered Kalshi to stop; a federal court blocked enforcement in February 2026; and Tennessee's attorney general nonetheless signed the 37-state brief two months later.

Three questions get answered as though they were one

Most state lists you will find are answering a different question from the one in their headline. The three that get run together:

1. Is it lawful for me to trade here? State law.
2. Will the platform let me in? Geofencing, which the platform sets and can change without notice.
3. Am I eligible for the sign-up promo? A marketing offer.

The state legality hub sets out which attorneys general have taken a position on the record, across all fifty-one jurisdictions, and Kalshi legality by state indexes every state with a court record in one line each.

What follows, and where it comes from

Tennessee signed the 37-state brief. The rest of this page is Tennessee specific. Where a claim rests on reporting rather than on a document we read ourselves, it says so at that point rather than in a footnote.

What Tennessee demanded

The Tennessee Sports Wagering Council sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding Kalshi stop offering sports event contracts, void the contracts, refund customers, and threatening fines and a criminal referral. That is a materially harder demand than most state letters, because voiding and refunding reaches trades already made.

What the federal court did about it

Kalshi sued Tennessee officials and the Sports Wagering Council in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. On 19 February 2026 the court granted Kalshi a preliminary injunction, finding the contracts likely constitute federally regulated swaps and that federal law likely preempts Tennessee enforcement. That is the same conclusion the Third Circuit later reached for New Jersey, and the opposite of the Connecticut ruling in August.

Signing the brief after losing the injunction

Jonathan Skrmetti, Tennessee's attorney general, appears on the signature block of the brief filed 24 April 2026 supporting Massachusetts, which we read. Losing a preliminary injunction is not losing the argument, and a state can plainly think a district court got it wrong while another case runs. It is worth knowing, though, that the 38 jurisdictions on that brief are not all in the same position at home.

The provisions in play

Section numbers are given so you can look them up. Where we have not read the provision directly, the sources list says so.

What we could not verify

• The order itself. We did not read the Middle District of Tennessee decision. The date, the holding and the reasoning all come from law-firm commentary read direct on 20 Aug 2026.
• The case caption and docket number.
• Whether the injunction still stands.
• Whether Tennessee has appealed.

Questions people actually type

Is Kalshi legal in Tennessee? There is no yes or no here that would be honest. This page sets out what Tennessee has actually done, what its law says, and what a court has or has not decided, so you can see the state of play rather than a verdict nobody has issued.

Has Tennessee taken action against Kalshi? The section above answers this for Tennessee specifically. Across the country, reporting we read describes fifteen states having sued, investigated or sent cease-and-desist orders over gambling licensure. The states differ, and a page that gives one national answer is flattening that.

Does the CFTC designation settle it? No. Kalshi is a CFTC-designated contract market and nobody disputes that. Whether the designation displaces state gaming law is the contested question, argued through 7 U.S.C. section 2(e) and the clear-statement rule in Whitman, 531 U.S. 457, 468 (2001). Two federal district courts have answered it differently.

Can I be prosecuted for trading in Tennessee? We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice. The filings we read are about whether the exchange may offer the contracts, not about individual traders. If that is your real question it is one for someone licensed to answer it in Tennessee.

Is the app blocked in Tennessee? We have not tested it. Geofencing is a platform setting that changes without notice and is a different question from legality.

How many states are arguing this? Thirty-seven states plus the District of Columbia signed the brief, which is 38 jurisdictions, and Massachusetts is separately the party bringing the case. The full signature block is on the state legality hub.

What this page is not

It is not legal advice and we are not lawyers. It is a reading of public documents and reporting, all linked, so you can check it yourself.