Mayor and City Council of Baltimore v. Kalshi

Also captioned City of Baltimore v. KalshiEX LLC

Filed — municipal consumer-protection action4th Cir.State v. Platform

Docket last checked September 26, 2026. Snapshot — not legal advice.

As of September 27, 2026, the legality of prediction markets in Maryland is unresolved — litigation is ongoing with no final ruling yet. Maryland status and cases →

Overview

Baltimore filed the first municipal enforcement action of the prediction-market fight (August 2026), suing under the city’s Consumer Protection Ordinance rather than state gambling law — alleging unlicensed sports betting and misleading consumers about legal and regulatory status. Unlike New York’s action it names the brokerage distributors (Coinbase, Robinhood and Webull entities) alongside the two Kalshi entities. Kalshi removed it to federal court on August 14, 2026 on diversity grounds, where it is before Judge James K. Bredar. The theory matters beyond Baltimore: a municipal consumer-protection ordinance is cheap to replicate, and it operates independently of the state-versus-federal preemption fight running through the Fourth Circuit. (Federal docket D. Md. No. 1:26-cv-03217 confirmed via CourtListener; the state complaint is captioned City of Baltimore, ex rel. Ebony M. Thompson v. KalshiEX LLC, Thompson being the City Solicitor.)

Timeline

August 2026

Baltimore files consumer-protection actions against Kalshi (with Coinbase, Robinhood and Webull) and, separately, Polymarket.

What's next: Removed to federal court by Kalshi Inc. and KalshiEX LLC on diversity grounds; pending before Judge Bredar. No ruling identified, and no remand order has issued.

Parties

Plaintiffs

  • Mayor Brandon M. Scott and the City Council of Baltimore

Defendants

  • KalshiEX LLC
  • Kalshi Inc.
  • Coinbase Financial Markets, Inc.
  • Robinhood Derivatives, LLC
  • Robinhood Markets, Inc.
  • Webull Corporation
  • Webull Financial LLC
This page is informational, not legal advice. Nearly every entry in this tracker is a preliminary ruling under appeal. Always verify a platform's current, location-specific eligibility directly with the venue before relying on this page.