Connecticut Orders 9 Prediction Markets to Stop Sports Bets

In a coordinated administrative enforcement action, the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP), led by Commissioner Bryan T. Cafferelli and Governor Ned Lamont, issued cease-and-desist orders to nine major prediction market platforms offering sports event contracts to residents. The administrative action targets the major financial and crypto platforms Polymarket, Coinbase, Crypto.com, Robinhood, Gemini, Webull, ProphetX, Novig, and Underdog Predict, with the state claiming that each one is taking sports wagers without the license that Connecticut’s regulated betting market requires.

The orders tell the platforms to “immediately cease and desist advertising, offering, promoting, or otherwise making available” sports event contracts, or any other unlicensed online gambling, to Connecticut residents. Customers must also be allowed to withdraw the money the platforms hold. Ignoring the orders risks civil penalties under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act and criminal penalties under the state’s gaming statutes.

The Subpoenas Go After the Plumbing

The letters made the headlines, but the subpoenas are the sharper move. The department sent nearly 30 subpoenas, to 9 gaming service licensees and 15 media organizations, with more going to app stores and payment companies that hold no Connecticut license.

The licensee list reads like the back office of online betting. PayPal, Plaid and Paysafecard move the money, LexisNexis and Socure handle identity checks, and Sportradar and Genius Sports supply sports data. The department says none of these businesses is under investigation, only that they may hold information relevant to it.

Newsrooms and App Stores Too

The media list runs from The Hartford Courant and The Day to ESPN, NBC Connecticut and iHeartMedia. Apple’s App Store, Google Play, Apple Pay, Google Wallet and Stripe were also served. The orders cover advertising as well as offering contracts, so it is not hard to guess why broadcasters are on the list.

That’s a lot of letters for one week.

Lamont Says the 2021 Law Is Being Gamed

Connecticut legalized sports betting in 2021 and kept it tight. Only three platforms can take bets: DraftKings through Foxwoods, FanDuel through Mohegan Sun and Fanatics through the Connecticut Lottery, and players have to be 21. That is the entire list of licensed sportsbooks in the state.

“When we legalized sports wagering in 2021, the goal was to create a safe, responsibly regulated market for Connecticut consumers, not to open a free-for-all,” Lamont said in the announcement. Elsewhere, he was blunter. “We’re putting ourselves at risk. We’re putting our kids at risk,” he said, adding that he had to make sure “the prediction markets don’t play games with us as well.”

Under-21s and Self-Excluded Players

The state’s case goes beyond the missing license. Officials say the platforms accept bets from people under 21 and from people on Connecticut’s voluntary self-exclusion list. They also offer contracts on Connecticut college sports, which state law bans outright to protect college athletes from influence and harassment.

Bryan T. Cafferelli, Connecticut’s Consumer Protection Commissioner, put it plainly: “Our laws are clear: sports betting may only be offered by legal, licensed sportsbooks that adhere to our regulations and technical standards.” He also said one of the nine has already committed to comply, without naming it.

Football Season Set the Clock

The timing isn’t subtle. The American Gaming Association estimates $40 billion will be wagered on the NFL through prediction markets this year, and one prediction market reported nearly $250 million in college football volume on the first day of the 2026 season alone. Cafferelli said the state hoped to curb the activity “especially as the betting season ramps up with the start of the NFL season this week.”

Kalshi Got There First

Kalshi, the largest prediction market operator, isn’t on the list, and Connecticut is already fighting it in court. Attorney General William Tong sued Kalshi in August, and a federal judge in Connecticut ruled that month that sports event contracts are unlicensed gambling and not protected by federal commodities law.

The fight runs both ways. Coinbase and Kalshi asked the federal court in Connecticut to block the state’s enforcement in December 2025, and the CFTC, the federal derivatives regulator, filed its own complaint in April 2026. All three cases are still unresolved, and the wider state-by-state legal picture is no clearer.

No court order yet stops sports event contracts being offered in Connecticut. The state has decided not to wait for one.