And then there were 6.

On Monday, Maryland ended up being the 6th state in the U.S. (that we understand so far) to send cease-and-desist letters to federally regulated "forecast markets" using de facto sports betting via occasion agreements.

- Officials in Maryland, Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, Nevada, and Montana have sent cease-and-desist letters in connection with federally controlled sports event agreements.

• Those agreements are a growing form of competition for state-regulated sportsbooks.
  
  The letters were sent out by the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission to Kalshi, Robinhood, and Crypto.com, all of which have actually received comparable correspondence from other state regulators.
  
  "Kalshi is operating in Maryland and is offering and performing what is, in reality, wagering on sporting events," Maryland Lottery and agency director John Martin wrote in one of the letters. "However, Kalshi does not hold a sports wagering license released by the Commission, its wagers have not been approved by the Commission, and it is not otherwise authorized under Maryland law to provide wagers on sporting events."
  
  For these reasons, Martin added, Kalshi and the others are being directed by the commission to "instantly cease and desist these legal offerings" in the state. The prediction markets have 15 days to inform the regulator that they are complying.
  
  The letters from the Maryland sports wagering regulator follow similar ones sent by authorities in Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, and, according to Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour, Montana.
  
  Join the club
  
  Those efforts represent increasing awareness of and opposition to federally regulated prediction markets like Kalshi. That opposition has ramped up given that event contract trading broadened to include sports outcomes, like the Super Bowl and March Madness.
  
  Sports event agreements are now supplying users with the chance to make de facto wagers on numerous video games and leagues in all 50 U.S. states, not simply the ones that have actually legislated sports betting. Therefore, they are a growing source of competitors to state-regulated sportsbook operators like DraftKings and FanDuel.
  
  Kalshi, for example, has actually facilitated more than $380 million in trading in March Madness-related agreements, such as users buying "yes" contracts for Houston to win the males's college basketball champion.
  
  Kalshi, Robinhood, and Crypto.com are also all controlled by the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), not states.
  
  In Nevada and New Jersey, where Kalshi is pressing back on the cease-and-desist letters, the company has argued it is subject to federal law and oversight.
  
  "We are actually like a monetary exchange, but the underlying trading is occasions," Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour stated in a current TechCrunch interview. "The CFTC is our regulator. If the CFTC tells us to stop, we will absolutely stop.