Six prediction market operators have 30 days to prove they comply with Missouri’s sports wagering law or stop offering sports event contracts in the state. Attorney General Catherine Hanaway sent cease-and-desist letters to Polymarket, Kalshi, Crypto.com, Novig, Underdog and Robinhood. Her office holds that the contracts amount to sports wagering and so need a license from the Missouri Gaming Commission.
The state’s rules
Missouri voters approved Amendment 2 in 2024, and the regulated market opened on December 1, 2025. Betting runs through licensed mobile and online platforms and authorized physical locations, with a 10% tax on gross receipts. Online operators pay initial and five-year renewal licensing fees of up to $500,000. Revenue supports educational institutions and the state’s Compulsive Gaming Prevention Fund. Nobody under 21 may place a wager.
Hanaway’s office says Polymarket, Kalshi, Crypto.com, Underdog and Robinhood either let younger users in or lack adequate safeguards to keep them out. The letter to Novig does not make that age allegation. The companies may keep operating only if they obtain a Missouri license and meet the tax and fee obligations.
“Companies cannot repackage sports bets as ‘event contracts’ to avoid Missouri law,” Hanaway said on Friday. She added that failure to comply “will result in enforcement action by the State of Missouri.” Her office said Missouri stays open to future legislative changes, but for now the companies must follow existing law or stop selling sports wagering products to people in the state.
Federal or state law
The dispute turns on which regulator governs these products. Hanaway cited federal court decisions holding that online sports wagering platforms offering such products remain subject to state gambling laws. Her office argues the Commodity Exchange Act does not override state law here, and that sports event contracts are not swaps governed only by federal law.
The companies disagree. Robinhood said its event contracts are federally regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC, a CFTC-registered entity. Polymarket said prediction markets answer to the CFTC under a federal framework, “not a patchwork of state rules.”
