Webull promotes college football event contracts in US app with state limits
Webull is promoting college football event contracts through its US app, offered via Webull Futures LLC, a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant and NFA member. Available contracts are limited in Nevada, Maryland, and Michigan. Webull joins other CFTC-regulated platforms offering sports-linked event contracts to US users. The promotions come as federal courts narrow the preemption protection that CFTC registration once provided against state gambling laws.
State gambling enforcement now reaches CFTC-registered platforms regardless of federal label. Nevada already blocks Kalshi; Maryland and Michigan could follow the same path for Webull. Each state loss shrinks the territory where registration protects contract validity. Polymarket and Novig face identical exposure. Webull's three-state limitation may be the first crack in a wider geofencing build it cannot avoid.
The Ninth Circuit's reasoning reaches any platform offering sports-linked contracts. Traders hold positions whose legality shifts with geography. The first formal state action against Webull would set the compliance cost baseline every competitor races to clear before their own states act. State attorneys general have already shown they treat event contracts as gambling regardless of federal status.
Webull joins DraftKings Predicts and Kalshi in navigating a collapsing federal preemption shield, as the Ninth Circuit now treats CFTC registration as no barrier to state gambling enforcement and state attorneys general file parallel suits.