Crypto.com’s prediction-market platform and Novig have gone to federal court after Missouri moved to treat sports-related event contracts as gambling under state law. The lawsuits were filed after a state deadline to stop offering the products expired.
The dispute adds to a wider legal fight over whether sports event contracts listed on prediction markets should be regulated as derivatives under federal law or as gambling by individual states. Missouri had sent cease-and-desist letters in September to several companies offering or facilitating the contracts.
Missouri’s enforcement action
Missouri authorities targeted Crypto.com, Novig, Kalshi, Polymarket, Robinhood and Underdog in September, ordering them to halt offerings tied to sports-related event contracts. The latest court filings came after that deadline passed.
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office argues that companies cannot avoid the state’s gambling rules simply by describing sports betting products as event contracts. The office also pointed to the Crypto.com platform’s ability to allow trading by users as young as 18, which is below Missouri’s sports-betting age of 21.
What NADEX is asking the court to do
The lawsuit tied to Crypto.com was filed by NADEX, the entity that operates the company’s prediction-market platform. NADEX argues that the Commodity Exchange Act gives the Commodity Futures Trading Commission exclusive authority over event contracts.
On that basis, NADEX says federal law overrides conflicting state gambling statutes. It is seeking a declaratory judgment from the federal court as well as a permanent injunction to block Missouri from enforcing its position against the platform.
Novig seeks to preserve operations during the case
Novig’s case asks the court for both preliminary and permanent injunctions. Its request for interim relief is aimed at maintaining the status quo while the federal court considers the merits of the dispute.
The filing comes as related litigation involving Kalshi is already before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, making Missouri another front in a broader legal contest over the classification of these products.
A split legal landscape
U.S. courts have not reached a single view on whether sports event contracts belong under federal derivatives oversight or state gambling law. According to the report, some federal circuits have ruled against Kalshi, while others have sided with it.
That split has left platforms and regulators arguing over the boundaries between exchange-traded event contracts and sports wagering, with no uniform national outcome yet in place.
What happens next
As of October 18, several companies named by Missouri, including Kalshi, Polymarket, Robinhood and Underdog, had not filed their own lawsuits in the state. Kalshi was reportedly in discussions with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office.
For now, the next confirmed steps are the federal court proceedings brought by NADEX and Novig, which will test whether Missouri can apply its gambling laws to the sports event contracts at issue or whether federal commodities law preempts the state’s action.
Source: en.bloomingbit.io