Connecticut Orders Prediction Market Firms To Stop Offering Sports Contracts

The DCP's orders named Robinhood, Polymarket, Coinbase, Gemini, Webull and other platforms offering event contracts tied to the outcomes of sporting events. 

The department said these products constitute unlicensed sports wagering under Connecticut law, regardless of how the operators classify them under federal law.

Each cease-and-desist letter cites Connecticut General Statutes 53-278b and 53-278d, the state's gambling statutes, as well as the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA). 

The orders direct the companies to immediately stop advertising and offering the contracts to Connecticut residents and to allow residents to withdraw any funds currently held on the platforms.

The action follows Connecticut's lawsuit against Kalshi, the largest prediction market operator, filed roughly two weeks earlier. 

State officials argue that prediction markets offering sports-outcome contracts are functionally identical to sports betting and should be subject to the same licensing, tax and consumer-protection requirements as the state's regulated sportsbooks.

Connecticut joins a growing list of states, including several that have sued or issued similar orders against Kalshi and other prediction-market operators this year, as regulators push back against platforms that argue they fall under federal commodities oversight rather than state gambling law. 

Failure to comply with the Connecticut orders can trigger civil penalties under CUTPA or criminal penalties under the state's gambling statutes.

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The nine cease-and-desist letters, published by Connecticut regulators and reviewed by local outlets, including WSHU and WTNH, set compliance deadlines for each company and warn of further state action if the platforms continue operating in Connecticut. 

The DCP said residents holding funds on any of the named platforms should be able to withdraw their balances even as the underlying sports-contract products are wound down for the state.

Connecticut's approach mirrors steps taken by regulators in several other states this year, where officials argue prediction markets offering win/loss and point-spread-style contracts on individual games are, in substance, unlicensed sports betting rather than a separate financial product. 

The nearly 30 subpoenas issued to gaming service providers, along with the orders, suggest the state is also examining the technology and payment infrastructure that support these platforms, not just the platforms themselves.