A Nevada judge has hit pause on Polymarket’s business inside state lines, granting a May 29 preliminary injunction that blocks the prediction platform from offering its event-contract markets to anyone in Nevada. The move effectively sidelines Polymarket in the Silver State while a high-stakes legal fight continues over whether these products count as old-fashioned gambling or federally regulated derivatives.
Judge Jason Woodbury of the First Judicial District Court in Carson City signed the order, giving state regulators the early win they were hoping for. "We are very pleased with Judge Woodbury’s ruling and will continue to vigorously enforce Nevada law to safeguard gaming in our state," Nevada Gaming Control Board chairman Mike Dreitzer said, according to iNTERGAME Online.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board first hauled Polymarket into court on Jan. 16, naming Blockratize Inc., QCX LLC (doing business as Polymarket US) and Adventure One QSS, Inc. in a civil complaint. The filing asks a judge to declare the companies’ sports and event contracts unlawful under state law and to bar their sale in Nevada, arguing those event contracts qualify as wagering under state statutes and therefore require a Nevada gaming license, per a Nevada Gaming Control Board press release.
The early procedural skirmishing featured a short-term restraining order in late January and a quick detour to federal court before the case was sent back to state court. The remand order and related filings map out the timeline and the board’s push for longer-term relief, including the preliminary-injunction hearing, and are available in the public docket, according to Justia.
The ruling lands in the middle of a broader turf war with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which has argued that many event contracts function as derivatives that belong under federal oversight. CFTC chairman Michael Selig has pressed the agency to spell out clear rules for prediction markets and to stake out a leading regulatory role, according to Axios.
Nevada has already reached for preliminary injunctions to sideline other players in the space, with the board pointing to earlier court orders aimed at Kalshi and Coinbase, and it now counts the Polymarket order as part of that pattern. In public filings and updates, the regulator says it treats certain sports and entertainment event contracts as wagering under Nevada’s statutory definitions and therefore subject to the state’s licensing regime, per the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
The companies behind Polymarket and similar platforms have launched appeals and removal bids in multiple cases, seeking federal rulings that would block or override state enforcement. Courts have split so far, with some decisions allowing state actions to move ahead, increasing the odds that higher courts will eventually wade in and potentially reshape where and how prediction markets can operate in the United States, according to GamblingInsider.
Legal Implications
Nevada law defines terms like "sports pool" and "wager" broadly, and regulators argue that those wide definitions pull many event contracts into the state’s licensing net. The Nevada Revised Statutes spell out the specific requirements and definitions the board is leaning on in this case, particularly in Chapter 463, as published on Justia.
The new injunction will stay in force while the parties finalize the written order and any appeals get underway, so Nevada companies and would-be bettors should expect more court action in the weeks ahead as the Carson City case plays out.
