Image credit: Source: State of Connecticut governor's office press release. Never imply stock depicts the actual event.
Connecticut ordered nine prediction market platforms, including Polymarket, Robinhood and Coinbase, to stop offering sports event contracts to state residents on September 10, and subpoenaed 29 payment processors, sports data providers, app stores and media outlets that keep those platforms running. Governor Ned Lamont and Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Bryan Cafferelli announced the action jointly.
The orders also name Crypto.com, Gemini, ProphetX, Novig, Webull and Underdog Predict. The subpoenas reach beyond the operators: PayPal and Plaid, sports-data vendors Sportradar and Genius Sports, Apple's and Google's app stores, and 15 news organizations that carried the platforms' advertising, including ESPN and the Hartford Courant.
The state says the nine let residents wager on sports, including Connecticut's own collegiate teams, without a license, violating state gaming law and the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act. It also alleges some platforms took wagers from bettors under 21 and from people who had self-excluded, protections built into the licensed market. The state's three licensed sportsbooks, DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics, are not targeted.
"Prediction markets have branded themselves as legal and safe, but the reality is they are not adhering to Connecticut's consumer protection standards," Lamont said. "Sports betting may only be offered by legal, licensed sportsbooks that adhere to our regulations," Cafferelli said. None of the named companies had responded publicly as of publication.
The action follows a narrower one: Connecticut sent Kalshi its own cease-and-desist notice in December, then won a federal ruling in August after a judge denied Kalshi's bid to block the state from enforcing it, finding its contracts are wagers, not swaps. Kalshi has appealed. That ruling put Connecticut alongside Nevada, where the Ninth Circuit also sided against Kalshi, against a Third Circuit ruling the other way for New Jersey, a split the industry awaits a higher court to resolve. The nine must still let account holders withdraw funds; non-compliance risks civil and criminal penalties, with no deadline set for Connecticut's next step.
Connecticut is going after the plumbing, not just the front door
Prior state action, including the CFTC's own warning that some platforms needed to drop sportsbook-style odds displays, targeted operators directly. Subpoenaing the payment processors and app stores that route money and downloads to them is a different kind of pressure, one that does not wait on a settled legal question to bite.
Related: Kalshi Loses Bid to Block Connecticut's Gambling Law | Ninth Circuit Sides With Nevada Over Kalshi | Kalshi and Polymarket's Preemption Defense Hits a Split | CFTC Tells Prediction Markets to Drop Sportsbook-Style Odds