Ohio warns gaming licensees over prediction-market support

Ohio’s Casino Control Commission has told sports-betting and fantasy-contest licensees, as well as applicants, to stop providing services to companies offering sports-event contracts in the state without an Ohio licence. The commission warned that supporting such operators could threaten a company’s continuing suitability to hold a state gaming licence.

The notice, sent Tuesday, Oct. 20, requires recipients that provide the identified services to cease immediately and notify the commission of their compliance by Oct. 30. CDC Gaming reported the warning, which the commission described as a follow-up to guidance issued in August 2025.

The commission said the services at issue include providing liquidity, market making, integrity monitoring, equipment, data security and other technology support. It said that continued facilitation of illegal gambling, or affiliation with illegal operators, raises significant suitability concerns, while suitability is a continuing requirement of licensure.

The directive reaches a broad group within Ohio’s regulated gambling sector. It covers fantasy-contest operators, sports-gaming proprietors, management-services and mobile-management-services providers, suppliers and key employees, independent integrity monitors, testing laboratories, and applicants. It also applies to firms supporting the state’s licensed online sportsbooks.

Futures commission merchants and introducing brokers can remain compliant if they prevent Ohio customers from accessing sports-event contracts listed on designated contract markets. The warning could result in reopened suitability investigations and, potentially, licence suspension or revocation for companies that fail to comply, according to RG.org.

The move expands Ohio’s campaign against prediction-market sports contracts beyond the platforms that offer them. The commission maintains that sports-event contracts offered through prediction markets fall outside Ohio law, and says unlicensed sports betting reflects on a licensee’s character and reputation while undermining public confidence in the regulated sports-gaming and fantasy-contest markets.

It follows Ohio’s Oct. 2 cease-and-desist orders to 10 prediction-market operators and brokers, as we reported earlier this month. Those orders came after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit’s Sept. 25 ruling in KalshiEx LLC v. Schuler, which allowed Ohio to enforce its gaming laws against Kalshi’s sports-event contracts.

The 10 companies were told to stop offering the contracts by Oct. 16. The commission said it had held productive conversations with several recipients but did not identify them, and said the broader compliance issues remained under investigation.