Bellingcat researcher Miguel Ramalho documented that the 2026 FIFA World Cup generated historic trading volumes on unregulated prediction markets including Polymarket and Kalshi, with fans betting billions on outcomes. The markets operated with minimal regulatory oversight.
A federal judge temporarily halted Minnesota's first-in-the-nation law banning prediction markets before its Saturday implementation. The law would have made operating or advertising most prediction markets a felony in the state.
A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction pausing Minnesota's prediction market ban days before it was to take effect. The ruling came in response to lawsuits from the Justice Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Polymarket, and Kalshi.