Polymarket US sues Ohio officials over sports event contract ban

QCX LLC, which operates as Polymarket US, sued Ohio's attorney general and casino regulators in federal court on 16 October, arguing that state sports gaming licensing requirements unlawfully restrict its business. The complaint was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, case No. 2:26-cv-01502, on the date the Ohio Casino Control Commission had fixed for the company to verify that it had ceased offering sports event contracts in the state.

The defendants listed in the case are Attorney General Andy Wilson, interim executive director Andromeda Morrison and the commission's seven members, all in their official capacities. Judge Douglas R. Cole has been assigned to the matter, and Squire Patton Boggs and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher represent Polymarket US.

The complaint follows cease-and-desist letters the commission sent on 2 October to Polymarket and nine other prediction market platforms and brokers. The regulator ordered the company to stop offering sports event contracts to Ohio residents without a commission licence and to confirm compliance within 14 days.

Polymarket contends that if it obeyed the order it would have to shut out Ohio users and settle their open positions, whereas carrying on as before would leave it open to legal action. According to the company, both paths would inflict harm that money could not fully repair.

The lawsuit takes aim at Ohio's licensing regime, which the company describes as tilted toward operators with a local footprint. State law generally reserves online sports betting licences for applicants holding an operating business or a sports gaming facility in Ohio. Polymarket points out that well-known operators including FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, bet365, Fanatics and ESPN Bet are able to serve Ohio customers by partnering with businesses that hold local licences.

The company further objects to provisions that require betting servers to sit in secure facilities within Ohio and that restrict wagers to individuals physically located in the state. The complaint describes these measures as violating the Constitution's safeguards for interstate commerce.

The second part of the lawsuit argues that the federal Commodity Exchange Act overrides Ohio's gambling laws as they apply to Polymarket. The company says the Commodity Futures Trading Commission designated it as a contract market on 9 July 2025, giving the federal agency exclusive jurisdiction over swaps traded on such markets.

Polymarket asks the court to declare that a number of Ohio gambling statutes are unenforceable against its operations on the grounds that they clash with federal law. It further seeks an injunction barring state officials from acting against the company, along with repayment of its legal expenses.