Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed lawsuits Wednesday against two online platforms, Kalshi and VGW, accusing both of offering illegal gambling services to Arkansans without a license and misleading consumers along the way. The two suits, filed in different county circuit courts, seek restitution, civil penalties and taxes from the companies.
According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the lawsuit against Kalshi was filed in Independence County Circuit Court, while the case against VGW landed in White County Circuit Court. Griffin's office, in a release reported by News From The States, accused Kalshi of operating what it called a pocket-sized bookie and ignoring Arkansas's restrictions on casinos and sports betting.
Betting on the Senate, and on Razorback Games
Griffin's complaint against Kalshi zeroes in on the company's prediction markets, which let users wager on political and sporting outcomes. The suit points to more than $330 million traded on a single Kalshi question asking which party would control the U.S. Senate, per the Democrat-Gazette's reporting. Griffin also argued that Kalshi allows users as young as 18 to wager real money on sporting and entertainment events, according to the News From The States report.
“Wagering money on whether the Razorbacks win or lose is gambling,” Griffin said, adding that gambling on an unregulated platform is prohibited under Arkansas law, per News From The States. The attorney general also cited Kalshi's own self-exclusion tools and deposit limits as evidence that the platform recognizes itself as a gambling operation, the Democrat-Gazette reported. The Kalshi lawsuit seeks a declaration that the company violated Arkansas's Deceptive Trade Practices Act, along with restitution.
A Kalshi spokesperson had not immediately responded to an email by late Wednesday afternoon, according to News From The States. The Arkansas Attorney General's office, in its own release, characterized its position with the line that “Arkansas law is concerned with substance, not semantics.”
VGW's Sweepstakes Coins and a Prior $8 Million Settlement
The second suit targets VGW, described in court filings as an Australian company operating an online sweepstakes casino. VGW's platform features games including Chumba Casino, LuckyLand Casino, LuckyLand Slots and Global Poker, according to News From The States. Griffin's office said VGW operates websites that let consumers play slot machines, blackjack, poker and other casino games for real money.
Under VGW's model, users can purchase Gold Coins with real money, receive Sweeps Coins as a bonus, and then redeem winning Sweeps Coins for cash, the Democrat-Gazette reported. The lawsuit against VGW alleges the company accepted money from Arkansans, enabled gambling and paid out winnings in cash and other prizes while presenting its service as a free sweepstakes, per News From The States. Griffin's suit against VGW seeks both civil penalties and restitution to consumers.
VGW has already faced scrutiny elsewhere. The company agreed to pay $8 million, including penalties, to New York regulators after a cease-and-desist letter from that state's attorney general, according to a statement from the New York Attorney General. “Under the settlement announced today, VGW will pay $8 million, including penalties,” the office said. VGW has also faced complaints from other states, per News From The States.
Part of a Wider, Multistate Fight Over Prediction Markets
Arkansas's move against Kalshi lands amid a much larger legal battle playing out across the country. Litigation over whether states can regulate prediction markets has spread across roughly 20 states, according to NBC News, while a separate legal analysis from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck put the figure at more than 20 states. A tracker from BetG8 counted 22 states that had taken formal action against prediction markets as of mid-October.
Arizona earlier this year became the first state to file criminal charges against Kalshi, accusing it of operating an illegal gambling business within its borders, NBC News reported. Utah went further, filing 14 criminal charges against Kalshi and its co-founders on October 28, including 13 felony counts of violating the state's gambling prohibition and one charge involving profiting off illegal activity, per NBC News. Meanwhile, the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission has sued at least 10 states, including Utah, in an effort to stop them from regulating prediction markets, NBC News reported.
Appeals courts have split on the underlying question. The Third Circuit previously sided with Kalshi in its dispute with New Jersey, while the Sixth and Ninth Circuits have ruled in favor of state regulators, according to Legal Sports Report. The stakes are enormous: combined monthly global trading volume on prediction markets was about $50.6 billion in July, compared with roughly $14 billion wagered per month at legal U.S. sportsbooks in 2025, per CBS Sports.
