Ohio orders 10 prediction markets to halt sports contracts

Ohio has ordered 10 prediction-market operators to stop offering sports event contracts to residents, widening its enforcement campaign after a federal appeals court cleared the state to apply its gambling laws to such products.

The cease-and-desist notices, dated Oct. 2, gave the companies until Oct. 16 to halt the activity and confirm compliance in writing. Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Casino Control Commission Chair Thomas Stickrath sent the notices, which were signed by the commission's interim executive director, Andromeda Morrison.

The recipients included Polymarket, Novig, Underdog, Coinbase, ProphetX, Robinhood, Gemini Titan, Webull, Plus500 and MooMoo Financial. The notices extend to platforms and brokers that solicit or accept Ohio orders for sports contracts, as well as operators of designated contract markets and futures commission merchants offering them to Ohio residents.

Ohio's commission said the products amount to online sports gaming because users stand to win or lose money on the outcome of a game or the performance of a team or player. Sports gaming cannot be offered in the state without a commission-issued licence, the letters said.

The commission warned that unlicensed activity violates Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3775 and can constitute felony sports gaming, bookmaking or facilitating bookmaking under state criminal law. It also characterized the companies' websites and online content as nuisances that can be subject to abatement.

The letters demand that the firms stop offering or facilitating sports contracts in Ohio. They warn that the commission may pursue all available legal remedies, including civil penalties or fines equal to the money or value of property obtained from offering the contracts. Enforcement could also reach relevant officers, directors and parent or holding companies.

Kalshi was not among the recipients. Its separate $5 million penalty case with Ohio was already under way, according to iGaming Times. As we reported Oct. 2, DeWine had said the state would enforce its gambling laws against Kalshi's sports contracts following the Sixth Circuit ruling.

That Sept. 25 decision upheld the denial of Kalshi's request for a preliminary injunction. The unanimous three-judge Sixth Circuit panel found that the Commodity Exchange Act did not apply to the sports contracts at issue and did not pre-empt Ohio's sports-gaming law; it also concluded that Kalshi had not shown its contracts met the statutory definition of swaps.

The ruling allowed Ohio and Tennessee to apply their gambling laws to Kalshi's sports-related contracts. It added to conflicting appellate decisions: the Ninth Circuit had permitted Nevada to regulate similar products, while the Third Circuit had found that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission held exclusive authority over swaps in a New Jersey case.

Ohio has regulated sports betting since the start of 2023 and began acting against prediction-market sites in March 2025. Kalshi added sports contracts in 2025, then sued the casino commission and state officials in October of that year after Ohio warned it to stop operating as an unlicensed sportsbook or obtain a licence and collect the state's 20% sports-betting tax.