alt Hacker News"What they are doing is quite obviously legal right now. Federal law trumps state law and the feds have an opinion..."
Federal law does not categorically trump state law.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_preemption
Whether pre-emption applies in this case depends on whether the courts accept Kalshi/Polymarket's claim that they operate a futures trading platform, not a gambling platform. If and only if that claim is accepted is there a pre-emption argument, and only then would the opinion of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission be relevant.
And while that is winding through the legal system, courts have decided that Kalshi/Polymarket can continue to operate. That might change in the future, but it is the present reality.
As long as the business is legal to operate, there is no justification for criminally prosecuting the people engaged in that business.