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10 different prediction platforms and brokers have drawn the legal ire of the Ohio Casino Control Commission, finding themselves on the receiving end of cease-and-desist letters for offering sports-related contracts.
The move expands the larger legal front that states have opened up against the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). States like Ohio have maintained that prediction markets offering event contracts on sports directly violate existing state gambling laws, while the CFTC continues to assert that they are legally traded derivatives.
The companies that received the letters include:
- Coinbase
- Moomoo Financial
- Prophet X
- Gemini Titan
- Novig
- Polymarket
- Robinhood Derivatives
- Plus500US
- Underdog Predict
- Webull Financial
OCCC Interim Executive Director Andromeda Morrison cited the Sixth Circuit’s ruling against Kalshi as a legal backing to move forward with the letters:
“Because these wagers lack the protections Ohio law requires, particularly for young and vulnerable people, the Commission must take action to fulfill its statutory responsibilities, protect consumers, and maintain fairness and integrity in sports gaming across Ohio.
The Sixth’s Circuit’s ruling makes clear that sports event contracts are subject to Ohio’s gambling laws. The Commission expects these entities to cease their illegal gambling activity in Ohio immediately.”
The Sixth Circuit ruling
Kalshi, Robinhood, and Crypto.com first received cease-and-desist letters from the OCCC last March, leading to Kalshi filing a lawsuit against the commission last October.
Kalshi’s legal argument was a familiar one: That due to federal law permitting the operation of prediction markets that offer sports contracts, they were not subject to Ohio’s state-level gambling laws.
The prediction giant sought a preliminary injunction in the case, which was denied by the Sixth Circuit. The OCCC fined the company $5 million the next month for operating unlicensed sports gambling.
Ohio is using that preliminary injunction denial as a predicate to issue the current cease-and-desist letters, which demand that the 10 recipients end all sports contracts and confirm in writing to the OCCC that they are non-operational by October 16.
