Prediction Markets in Pennsylvania: Legal Status

Status as of October 16, 2026

Pennsylvania's sports wagering law is the Sports Wagering chapter of Title 4 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, which begins at Section 13C01. That section defines "sports wagering" as "the business of accepting wagers on sporting events" and says the term "includes, but is not limited to, exchange wagering." Section 13C04 makes it unlawful to offer sports wagering to, or accept a wager from, any person physically located in Pennsylvania outside the scope of a sports wagering certificate issued by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. The Board's own pages say Title 4, Section 1202 gives it "general and sole regulatory authority over the conduct of gaming and related activities."

The Board's view of prediction markets is in its comments to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission dated April 30, 2026: "the PGCB believes that prediction markets offering the ability to purchase a contract on the outcome of a sporting event is sports wagering," and "a DCM dressing these wagers up as financial instruments does not preempt state gaming or criminal law." That is a regulator's stated position in a public comment letter. No Board order, cease-and-desist letter or penalty applying it to a named exchange was located as of October 16, 2026.

Kalshi: the Board's April 30, 2026 letter names Kalshi, and Pennsylvania's Attorney General signed the states' October 7, 2026 brief supporting New Jersey's request for Supreme Court review of the Third Circuit decision in Kalshi's New Jersey case. No Pennsylvania court case or Board order naming Kalshi was located, and this page draws no conclusion about it. The Kalshi legal page sets that record out in full.

Polymarket: no Pennsylvania-specific court filing, Board order or letter addressed to it, statute or platform notice naming it was located as of October 16, 2026, so this page draws no conclusion about it.

What the record shows

The Sports Wagering chapter was added to Title 4 on October 30, 2017 (P.L.419, No.42). Besides the definition and the Section 13C04 offense, which is graded as a misdemeanor of the first degree and as a felony of the second degree on a later violation, the chapter directs the Board to set standards barring anyone under 21 from sports wagering.

On October 8, 2025 the Board announced that its executive director, Kevin F. O'Toole, had written to Pennsylvania's two U.S. senators and its 17 members of Congress asking them to urge the CFTC to consider the problems of "a dual-track system of state-regulated legal sports wagering and purported futures trading on sporting events." The letter is an image-only file, so this page relies on the Board's release for what it says.

On April 6, 2026 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, whose circuit is made up of Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the Virgin Islands under 28 U.S.C. §41, decided KalshiEX, LLC v. Flaherty (No. 25-1922). The defendants were New Jersey's gaming regulators and officials; Pennsylvania was not a party. Writing for the majority, Judge Porter held: "Because Kalshi has demonstrated a reasonable chance of success on its argument that the Commodity Exchange Act ('the Act') preempts otherwise applicable state law, we will affirm" the District of New Jersey's preliminary injunction. Judge Roth dissented.

On April 30, 2026 the Board's executive director sent the comments quoted above, answering the CFTC's advance notice of proposed rulemaking on prediction markets (RIN 3038-AF65), and the Board published them with a release on May 5, 2026. The letter's footnotes cite Sections 13C01 and 13C04 and the pool selling and bookmaking offense at 18 Pa.C.S. §5514, and most of its argument concerns age: Pennsylvania's licensed sports wagering requires a bettor to be 21, while the letter says most, if not all, exchanges accept customers from 18.

New Jersey's officials petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court on September 2, 2026 (Flaherty v. KalshiEX, LLC, No. 26-299). On October 7, 2026 Ohio, 38 other states and the District of Columbia filed a brief supporting the petition, opening with the statement that "Federal and state courts are hopelessly confused and divided" over whether the Commodity Exchange Act preempts state sports-gambling laws. Its signature block lists David W. Sunday, Jr., Attorney General of Pennsylvania.

What is not documented

No Pennsylvania-specific primary record naming Polymarket was located as of October 16, 2026, so this page draws no conclusion about it; the search is repeated on October 30, 2026. The Board's April 30, 2026 letter mentions Polymarket only when citing news reports about trading on it and says nothing about its standing in Pennsylvania.

CourtListener's RECAP archive, searched on October 16, 2026 for Kalshi, KalshiEX, Polymarket, "event contracts" and "prediction market" in the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Pennsylvania and the Third Circuit, and nationwide for the Gaming Control Board alongside those terms, returned no case with Pennsylvania or a Pennsylvania official as a party. RECAP holds only what has been uploaded to it, so it is a search, not a complete docket. Pennsylvania's state court case search is a form application that could not be read for this page. The Board's press releases from March 2 to October 14, 2026 announce no action against an exchange. Neither venue's own website was read, so no notice from either about serving Pennsylvania is reported here.

What happens next

Kalshi's response to New Jersey's petition in No. 26-299 is due on November 9, 2026, after the Supreme Court extended the deadline on September 22, 2026. The docket read on October 16, 2026 lists amicus briefs filed through October 8, 2026 and shows no conference date. No Pennsylvania proceeding naming an exchange was located.

This page is next reviewed on October 30, 2026, and sooner after any Gaming Control Board action, Pennsylvania filing or entry in No. 26-299.

What this page does not do

This page is not legal advice. It does not say whether any person in Pennsylvania may lawfully trade any contract on any venue, it offers no view on what the Supreme Court, the Third Circuit or the Board ought to do, and it says nothing about how prediction-market proceeds are taxed. The Board's comments, by their own account, focus on contracts on sporting events; this page draws no conclusion about contracts on elections, the economy or anything else.

The page is reviewed every 14 days and after any filing, order or Board action, and it shows the date of its last review. A correction is made on this page and dated. The disclosure page sets out the site's relationships with the venues it names, of which there are none.