On October 2, the Ohio Casino Control Commission sent cease-and-desist letters to ten prediction market platforms, ordering them to halt sports event contracts for users in the state: Coinbase, Gemini Titan, MooMoo Financial, Novig, Plus500US, Polymarket, ProphetX, Robinhood Derivatives, Underdog and WeBull Financial. Each had 14 days, until October 16, to confirm compliance in writing. None did, and Governor Mike DeWine has now said the state will file suit.
Ohio is not bluffing from a weak hand. On September 25, the Sixth Circuit ruled unanimously in KalshiEx LLC v. Schuler that the Commodity Exchange Act neither applies to sports event contracts nor preempts Ohio's sports gaming law, rejecting the federal preemption argument the platforms rely on. Kalshi, fined $5 million by Ohio in April 2026 and already under a separate court order, asked the full Sixth Circuit to rehear the case on October 16. That petition is pending.
The threatened penalties are blunt: fines equal to the entire value of contracts offered to Ohioans, with unlicensed sports gaming treated as a felony that can constitute bookmaking, and officers, directors and parent companies in scope. Ohio has licensed sports betting since 2023; none of the ten holds a commission license. DeWine has called the products nothing more than gambling.
The map, though, is split. The same day Ohio sent its letters, a federal judge in Illinois ruled the opposite way, finding Kalshi's sports contracts are likely swaps under federal law. Kalshi and Polymarket have reportedly spent a combined $3 million fighting state restrictions. Ohio's suits will be the first real test of whether a state can enforce its gambling laws against CFTC-regulated exchanges.
Sources: PredictionAuthority
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