Following a recent ruling from a federal appeals court, the Ohio Casino Control Commission on Oct. 2 issued cease and desist letters to 10 companies that allow gamblers to bet on current events, from sports to politics and wars to the weather. 

Those receiving notice included commonly known brands Polymarket, Robinhood and CoinBase. 

The companies that operate these platforms, however, have recently emphasized what they call sports “swaps” or “event contracts” – transactions that ultimately pay out depending on outcomes such as whether a team loses an NFL game. 

This amounts to an illegal sports betting operation that’s avoiding the permits, fees, regulation and taxation required of Ohio sportsbooks, according to the OCCC. The regulators say the companies are taking money from customers who win or lose depending on the outcome of a sporting event – in other words, a sports bet. 

“By offering sports event contracts to persons located in Ohio, Polymarket is clearly engaged in bookmaking or facilitating bookmaking in violation of Ohio civil and criminal law, exposing Polymarket to civil and criminal penalties,” wrote Andromeda Morrison, the interim director of the agency. 

Morrison gave the companies until Oct. 16 to respond in writing whether they intend to comply with a demand to stop taking the alleged sports bets. 

Courts have split on the legality of these prediction markets, which may spur the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the matter. 

Enforcement comes amid heavy election-time political contributions

As the legal system churns, some of the companies targeted by the OCCC have emerged as top donors on a national scale, pumping tens of millions of dollars into different campaign committees. 

Coinbase has contributed $33.2 million to Fairshake, a super PAC that can accept unlimited sums from companies to spend on politics, federal campaign records show. 

Politico reports Fairshake, which has raised tens of millions more from other cryptocurrency companies, plans to spend $30 million against Democrat Sherrod Brown as he campaigns against incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted. 

And the parent company of Polymarket, Blockratize Inc., gave $1 million to a super PAC aligned with House Republican leadership and another $10,000 to the campaign of Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, records show. 

This comes amid a broader surge of hundreds of millions in political spending from the quickly growing artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, prediction market and sports betting sectors. 

Cease and desist

The cease and desist letters went out to some companies uniquely functioning as prediction markets and some offering broader financial services. Signal Statewide reached out to all the companies for which contact information could be located. 

On the purely prediction market side, there’s Polymarket, likely the biggest of the bunch. A company spokesman there said prediction markets are regulated under federal rules of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, “not a patchwork of state rules.”

Novig, which recently attracted international attention for its risque advertising campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney, received one as well. The company didn’t return an inquiry. 

For Robinhood, a stock brokerage and popular investing platform among younger Americans, this is its second cease and desist from the state. Its first came in March 2025, roughly the start of the state’s clash with prediction markets. 

A company spokesman said its “event contracts” are regulated by the CFTC, “allowing retail customers to access prediction markets in a safe, compliant, and regulated manner.”

Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, received a cease and desist as well. Company officials declined comment. 

Other recipients include Underdog Predict, Prophet X, Webull Financial, Plus500, Gemini Titan and Moomoo. Signal Statewide reached out to all for whom contact information could be gleaned. 

Courts have been split on prediction markets

The letter from regulators comes after judges on the federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals – covering Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Michigan – ruled in the state’s favor in a related lawsuit against Kalshi, a pioneer among prediction market makers. 

Ohio issued Kalshi a legal threat in March 2025. Before it could file suit, Kalshi sued the state preemptively. After a similar dynamic unfurled in Tennessee, the Sixth Circuit considered the matter. 

Kalshi insisted its event contracts were “swaps,” financial instruments that are regulated by the CFTC. The term usually refers to a contract between two parties used to hedge against risk of a given event, like changes in an exchange rate or price of a good. Ohio argued that this amounted to legal gloss over a sports bet. 

The three-judge panel ruled for the states. Swaps, they said, are limited to contracts of “financial consequence.” Put simply, they said swaps are about macroeconomics, not Cleveland Browns games. 

The distinction means states and not just federal regulators can enforce laws against the prediction markets. 

Two other federal courts of appeals have ruled on the matter, one for Kalshi and one for the state.