Ohio Regulator Orders Licensees To Cut Prediction Market Ties By October 30
Ohio’s gaming regulator has turned its fight against unlicensed sports event contracts toward the companies it already licenses. The Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) has issued a notice to every company holding or seeking a sports gaming or fantasy contest license, ordering them to stop supporting prediction market operators that offer sports event contracts to Ohio residents, and to confirm they have done so by October 30.
Interim Executive Director Andromeda Morrison confirmed the notice at the commission’s meeting on Wednesday, October 21. “The notice asks all licensees and applicants to confirm their compliance with that notice no later than October 30,” she told the seven-member commission, as reported by CDC Gaming.
Suitability is on the line
According to CDC Gaming, the notice cites reports that some licensees continue to provide prediction market operators with services ranging from liquidity provision and market making to equipment, data security, integrity monitoring and other tech services.
“The continued facilitation or support of illegal gambling activity, or the affiliation with illegal operators, by a commission licensee raises significant suitability concerns,” the notice reads. “As you are aware, maintaining suitability is a continuing obligation of licensure.”
A client alert from law firm Holland & Knight notes that the order reaches well beyond sportsbooks and fantasy operators. Suppliers, vendors, key employees, certified testing labs and integrity monitors with prediction market clients are also covered, and the OCCC has warned that it may reopen suitability reviews or move to suspend or revoke licenses. Holland & Knight describes Ohio as the first state to send this kind of cease-and-desist letter to all of its sports gaming licensees. Offering sports gaming in Ohio without a license is a felony under state law.
Built on earlier warnings and a court win
Morrison said the notice follows guidance the commission issued in August 2025, which warned that facilitating prediction markets could trigger suitability reviews. “So again, reiterating the commission’s long-held position that prediction markets that are offering sports event related contracts are doing so outside the confines of Ohio law,” she said.
The commission’s push gained momentum after the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that Ohio could enforce its gaming laws against Kalshi. The OCCC followed up with cease-and-desist letters to ten prediction market operators, giving them until October 16 to stop offering sports event contracts in the state. Morrison said the commission has had productive conversations with several of those companies, without naming them, and that the matters remain under investigation.
Polymarket has responded with a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Ohio, arguing that the state’s licensing structure violates the Commerce Clause and is preempted by the Commodity Exchange Act. “We are actively reviewing the complaint, working with the attorney general’s office,” Morrison said. “We will vigorously defend Ohio’s sports gaming laws.”
A wider state and federal fight
Ohio is one of many states pushing back against sports event contracts. Nevada regulators have taken a similarly hard line, with Nevada Gaming Control Board chair Mike Dreitzer calling prediction markets “criminal” earlier this month, while the American Gaming Association has urged the US Supreme Court to take up the Kalshi cases.
For Ohio licensees, the immediate question is simpler. Any company with a sports gaming or fantasy contest license, or a pending application, now has until October 30 to tell the OCCC it has cut the relevant ties.
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