Coinbase halts Michigan sports event contracts as regulator warns on illegal gambling
The Michigan Gaming Control Board announced that Coinbase has agreed to stop offering sports-related event contracts in the state. The disclosure came November 10 during the board's participation in International Illegal Gambling Awareness Week, when it warned residents about unlicensed operators offering unauthorized event contracts. The board reported $110.5 million in October revenue for Detroit casinos alongside the Coinbase announcement. No further terms of the agreement were disclosed.
Coinbase's exit leaves Michigan with no major CFTC-registered platform still offering sports event contracts. Kalshi, Robinhood, and Polymarket US had already pulled similar products. The state-by-state retreat tightens the squeeze on platforms that built national scale under federal registration.
Each exit becomes template law that the next attorney general copies, and platforms must now fund parallel defenses across multiple states. The CFTC's pending swap-rule rewrite moves too slowly to outpace state courts. Operators without their own designated contract market license, like Robinhood, face the sharpest product-line risk. A platform that cannot guarantee continuity loses traders within days of interruption.
Coinbase joins Kalshi, Robinhood, and Polymarket US's Michigan settlement as the fourth major CFTC-registered operator to abandon sports event contracts in the state, extending the pattern of state enforcement piercing federal preemption shields.