Ohio gaming licensees must exit sports event contracts by Oct. 30
Ohio regulators have ordered state gaming licensees to stop offering sports event contracts to Ohio customers by Oct. 30. The commission's guidance states that offering such contracts directly or indirectly violates state licensing requirements. The order escalates an August 2025 written warning that had cautioned licensees against facilitating prediction market activity. The move tightens enforcement against platforms that route event contracts through licensed gambling operators.
The October 30 deadline forces licensed gambling operators to choose between state standing and prediction market revenue. Platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket US have relied on licensee partnerships to reach Ohio traders without their own state gambling licenses. Those pipes close in eight days unless operators defy the order and risk commission sanctions.
Kalshi has already challenged the regulator in court, but most recipients ignored the October 16 deadline, leaving the commission to escalate penalties or accept visible defiance. Each operator that folds weakens the national licensee network that CFTC-registered platforms have treated as a distribution shortcut. For traders, the immediate consequence is vanishing liquidity and closed markets, not a courtroom ruling months away.
Joins Ohio's recent cease-and-desist letters to prediction market operators and Polymarket's same-day federal suit as the state's third enforcement action this week against CFTC-registered platforms, deepening the preemption fight Kalshi already lost at the Sixth Circuit.