Washington Judge Expands Kalshi Injunction — Sports, Elections, Politics, Entertainment and 'Mentions' Markets Must All Stop by September 2
King County Superior Court Judge John McHale has issued a final compliance order expanding the scope of the Kalshi preliminary injunction in Washington state. Kalshi must halt sports, elections, politics, entertainment, culture, tech and science, and 'mentions' contracts — but can continue offering markets on commodities, climate, economics, and finance. Geofencing deadlines are August 19 for IP-based blocking and September 2 for a multi-source commercial system. The Washington Court of Appeals denied Kalshi's request to stay the injunction. 'Mentions' contracts — bets on whether public figures say specific words — are explicitly named for the first time in any state court order.
King County Superior Court Judge John McHale has issued a final compliance order specifying which of Kalshi's product categories must be geofenced out of Washington state. Sports, elections, politics, entertainment, culture, tech and science, and 'mentions' contracts are all prohibited. Commodities, climate, economics, and finance markets can continue. Kalshi faces a phased geofencing schedule: an IP address and residency-based geofence must be in place by August 19; a multi-source commercial geolocation system must replace it by September 2. Non-compliance triggers $120,000 per day in fines. Washington AG Bob Ferguson's office published the order August 13. The Washington Court of Appeals denied Kalshi's emergency request to stay the injunction before the compliance deadlines arrive.
The category list is more specific than any prior state court order in the prediction market litigation wave. The explicit inclusion of 'mentions' markets — contracts that pay out based on whether a named public figure says a specific word or phrase — is notable because it names a product type no other state court has enumerated. Mentions markets on Kalshi allow users to trade on whether a politician, celebrity, or executive will use a particular word in a speech, interview, or social media post. Washington's gambling law defines gambling as staking something of value on the outcome of a future event that is partly or wholly determined by chance; the state's position is that whether a public figure says a word in an unscripted context satisfies that definition. The financial, commodities, climate, and economics carve-out implies that Washington is drawing a line between outcome-based contracts tied to naturally occurring events or published data (financial markets, weather indices, economic statistics) and contracts whose outcomes depend on human choices or sports results. That distinction maps directly onto the legal theory Judge Oliver used in the Connecticut ruling: contracts that depend on event outcomes rather than event occurrence sit in a different regulatory category.
The September 2 multi-source geofencing deadline adds context to the August 12 GeoComply implementation that Kalshi completed in Nevada and Michigan. Washington's phased schedule — IP-based first, commercial multi-source second — reflects the same implementation logic as the Nevada settlement, where a commercial vendor was ultimately required after Kalshi's IP-only system was defeated by investigators purchasing contracts while physically in the state. Kalshi now faces GeoComply-standard geofencing deadlines in three states simultaneously: the August 12 deadline that has passed in Michigan and Nevada, and the September 2 deadline in Washington. The NFL regular season begins September 4, two days after the Washington compliance date. Kalshi's sports markets in Washington will need to be geofenced before the first regular-season game.
The Washington Court of Appeals' refusal to stay the injunction removes Kalshi's last procedural option before the compliance deadlines arrive. Kalshi had asked the appellate court to pause enforcement while it pursued its appeal, which would have given it operational continuity through the NFL season's opening weeks. The denial means Kalshi must implement the geofencing on schedule regardless of the appeal's outcome. The underlying appeal will continue regardless — Kalshi's CFTC preemption arguments are preserved — but the practical effect during the NFL season is that Washington residents will not be able to access Kalshi's sports markets. Washington was the fourth state where Kalshi lost a PI motion in 2026, joining Michigan, Nevada, and New York, and before Connecticut became the fifth in August. The detailed category list in Judge McHale's compliance order gives future courts a template for structuring their own compliance orders as the litigation wave continues.
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