Nevada court puts brakes on Polymarket… two-week ban order

A Nevada court in the US has issued a preliminary injunction ordering Blockratize, operator of the prediction-market platform Polymarket, to temporarily suspend providing services to state residents.

According to Decrypt on the 2nd (local time), the Nevada court recently issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) barring Blockratize, Polymarket’s operator, for two weeks from offering sports and event contracts (betting products) to Nevada residents. The decision accepted a request from the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

Judge Jason Woodbury ruled that the Commodity Exchange Act does not grant the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) exclusive jurisdiction over Polymarket’s contracts. This rejects Polymarket’s long-standing argument that its contracts are federally regulated commodities and therefore not subject to state gambling regulations.

As a result, Polymarket will be unable to offer sports, political and social-event contracts to users in Nevada for at least two weeks. If state jurisdiction is upheld in the merits case, the regulatory dispute could spread to other US states. The market views the ruling as a case that has brought the “federal regulation vs. state gambling regulation” clash surrounding prediction markets squarely into the spotlight.