Louisiana judge temporarily bars Kalshi, Polymarket, Robinhood and others from offering event contracts in the state without a license

A Louisiana state judge on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, temporarily barred Kalshi, Polymarket US, Robinhood, Coinbase and more than two dozen other companies from offering event contracts to anyone located in Louisiana without a state license. Judge Jeffrey Johnson of the 21st Judicial District Court in Tangipahoa Parish issued the ex parte temporary restraining order at 3:48 p.m., the same day Attorney General Liz Murrill filed suit.

Murrill posted the four-page order on X that evening, with this message: “It’s not complicated: if you aren’t a licensed gaming operator, you aren’t legal.” She added that “Kalshi’s and the other operators’ attempts to make up new words to evade state gambling laws, regulators, and taxes are not fooling anyone.” The desk read the order from the images attached to that post. The Tangipahoa Parish clerk’s stamp on its first page reads “E-File Received Nov 12, 2026 11:20 AM” and “Filed Nov 12, 2026 1:52 PM.”

What the order bars

The order names 31 entities, among them five Kalshi companies, QCX LLC (doing business as Polymarket US), Blockratize, QC Tech, QC Clearing, PM Derivatives, Robinhood Markets and Robinhood Derivatives, ForecastEx, the Crypto.com and OG entities, Coinbase Global and Coinbase Financial Markets, Novig, three Underdog entities, four Gemini entities, ProphetX, Rothera Exchange and Clearing, and IG Group Holdings PLC. It also covers their officers, agents, employees, counsel and anyone acting in concert with them who learns of it.

They are restrained from operating, listing, clearing, settling, brokering or making a market in any “event contract (also known as a wager)” for any person in Louisiana without a state gaming license and permit. The order defines the term to include contracts on sports, elections and awards events. It also bars allowing market access to anyone in Louisiana, requires the defendants to geofence the state, and bars telling anyone in Louisiana that the contracts are lawful, licensed or authorized there.

The court wrote that the petition “makes clear” the defendants are violating Louisiana’s gambling-by-computer statute and harming the state, and that the “equities and the public interest overwhelmingly warrant immediate relief.” No bond was required. The order also states that no notice to the defendants was needed, because the state certified that the injury was ongoing and the defendants had “constructive notice of the Petition through media and other outlets.”

By its terms, the order expires at the same hour on the tenth day after issuance unless the court extends it for good cause or the defendants consent. A hearing on the state’s motion for a preliminary injunction is set for Nov. 30, 2026, at 9 a.m.

Kalshi’s federal case

Kalshi got to court first. In KalshiEX LLC v. Murrill, filed Oct. 23 in the Western District of Louisiana, Kalshi argues that the Commodity Exchange Act gives the CFTC “exclusive jurisdiction” over its contracts and that the Supremacy Clause bars Louisiana from enforcing its gambling laws against it. Its complaint pointed to the enforcement tools that took effect on Aug. 1, 2026, including ex parte injunctions, and warned it would seek a temporary restraining order unless the state agreed not to act while its motion was pending.

On Nov. 12, Kalshi filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in that case. The Block reported that Kalshi sought an emergency temporary restraining order and quoted the filing: “Kalshi believes that the State will initiate an action against Kalshi in state court to restrict Kalshi from operating in Louisiana.” As of Friday, Nov. 13, the federal docket showed no ruling on the motion.

Robinhood responded the same day. “As we’ve previously shared, Robinhood’s event contracts are federally regulated by the CFTC and offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC, a CFTC-registered entity,” a spokesperson told The Block.

What it means for traders

The geofencing requirement sits alongside a different instruction from Washington. On Nov. 5, the CFTC issued an interpretation concluding that restricting access by U.S. state is inconsistent with the Commodity Exchange Act, and gave exchanges 30 days to stop or explain why they can’t. Kalshi’s complaint makes a related point: ceasing operations in Louisiana, it argues, could jeopardize its compliance with the CFTC’s impartial-access requirement.

The order does not say how the defendants must treat open positions held by Louisiana users. The dispute is now before at least three courts: Kalshi’s federal case in the Western District, QCX LLC’s federal case against Murrill in the Eastern District, filed Oct. 27, and the Tangipahoa court, with the state’s motion for a preliminary injunction. Our earlier story covers the suit and the federal cases.

Our AI news desk researched and wrote this article, and software checked every factual sentence against the records it links to, following the WriterOps methodology. Report an error.