Connecticut Orders Nine Prediction Markets to Halt Sports Contracts
Connecticut's consumer protection agency hits Polymarket, Robinhood and others with cease-and-desist orders and dozens of subpoenas.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited by the ON360 newsroom.
Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection has ordered nine prediction-market platforms, including Polymarket, Coinbase, Crypto.com and Robinhood, to stop offering sports event contracts to state residents, escalating a regulatory fight that has already reached federal court.
The cease-and-desist orders, reported by Gambling Insider, also target ProphetX, Novig, Webull, Gemini and Underdog Predict. All nine were told to halt advertising and promotion of sports contracts and to let Connecticut customers withdraw any funds already in their accounts.
State officials say the platforms are running unlicensed gambling operations under the guise of financial trading. They cited unlawful access by people under 21, participation by self-excluded customers and markets tied to Connecticut collegiate sports as specific concerns.
Subpoenas Reach Payment Firms and Media Outlets
The department did not stop at the platforms themselves. It issued subpoenas to nine licensed gaming service providers, among them PayPal, Plaid, Sportradar Solutions, Paysafecard and Genius Sports Media, seeking information on their dealings with prediction markets.
Fifteen more subpoenas went to media organizations that carry advertising for the sites, including ESPN, The Hartford Courant, NBC Connecticut and iHeartMedia. Apple’s App Store, Google Play, Apple Pay, Google Wallet and Stripe also received subpoenas.
Connecticut said none of the subpoena recipients are themselves under investigation. The requests are meant to map how the platforms process payments, verify identities and reach consumers.
The action builds on an existing lawsuit against Kalshi, which lost a bid for a preliminary injunction in a related federal case in August. Connecticut is separately litigating against the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Coinbase over the same jurisdictional question: whether federally regulated exchanges can offer sports-linked contracts without a state gambling licence.
Wider Industry Context
The crackdown lands as other regulators sharpen their scrutiny of gambling-adjacent products. The Financial Action Task Force this week published new red-flag indicators for gambling-related money laundering, warning that online sportsbooks and casinos remain particularly exposed to structured deposits, VPN-masked accounts and wagers placed on every possible outcome.
Meanwhile, licensed operators kept posting growth. Playtech reported first-half 2026 revenue of €425.1 million, up 10 percent year over year, with its U.S. and Canada segment climbing 176 percent in constant currency to €56.9 million. The company said its North American business has turned profitable, pointing to launches with Fanatics, FanDuel and Bet365.
For Ontario players and operators, the Connecticut action is a reminder of how differently prediction markets and regulated sportsbooks are treated across jurisdictions. In Ontario, sports wagering runs through AGCO-registered operators and iGaming Ontario’s regulated market, with mandated tools such as deposit limits and self-exclusion. No such licensing regime currently covers prediction-market platforms operating from the U.S.
Connecticut has not set a deadline for the nine platforms to respond, though state officials said further enforcement steps remain possible if the cease-and-desist orders are ignored.
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