Ohio gaming licensees have been told to end any support for prediction markets offering sports-event contracts in the state and certify compliance by Oct. 30, or face potential action against their licences.
The Ohio Casino Control Commission issued the warning in an Oct. 20 letter signed by interim Executive Director Andromeda Morrison. Northeast Times reported that it went to every licensed fantasy-contest and sports-betting operator, as well as management-service providers, suppliers, integrity monitors, testing laboratories, key employees and applicants.
The commission said it was “deeply concerned” that some licensees continued to facilitate or provide services to platforms conducting unlicensed sports gaming. It identified liquidity provision, market making, integrity monitoring, equipment, data security and other technology work as examples of activity that could bring scrutiny.
Recipients must retain records supporting their response. The commission said non-compliance could result in an investigation, licence denial, nonrenewal, suspension or revocation, and that it could reopen suitability reviews of affected licensees and their owners, officers, directors and key employees.
In the letter, the commission said backing an unlicensed sports-gaming operator bears on a licensee’s “character, integrity, honesty, and reputation” and undermines public confidence in Ohio’s regulated sports-gaming and fantasy-contest markets. Ohio regulates 13 online sportsbooks.
The warning is limited to sports-event contracts. Operators offering contracts unrelated to sports do not violate Ohio gaming law under the commission’s position, while futures commission merchants and introducing brokers can comply by preventing Ohio customers from accessing sports contracts, directly or indirectly.
Ohio law defines sports gaming as accepting wagers on sporting events, and includes exchange wagering among the systems or methods that may constitute sports gaming when approved by the commission. The agency said sports-event contracts offered to Ohio residents meet that definition and therefore require appropriate state licensure. Sports gaming launched in Ohio on Jan. 1, 2023.
The commission also contrasted prediction-market access with the state’s sports-betting rules: such sites allow people as young as 18 to trade sports contracts, while Ohio requires sports bettors to be at least 21. The platforms are also not bound by Ohio’s approved wagering-market or responsible-gambling requirements, according to the warning.
The letter followed cease-and-desist orders sent in early October to 10 prediction-market operators and brokers, including Polymarket, Coinbase, Robinhood and Novig, which were asked to confirm compliance by Oct. 16. It was the commission’s second letter to licence holders concerning the issue since August 2025.
The commission’s action comes after a federal appeals court in Ohio ruled in September that sports-event contracts were not swaps within the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s exclusive jurisdiction, affirming the state’s authority to enforce its sports-betting laws. Gov. Mike DeWine has called the products betting and gambling, saying companies were trying to avoid regulation.
