Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway has ordered six prediction-market operators to stop offering sports event contracts to customers in the state unless they secure licences from the Missouri Gaming Commission. The cease-and-desist action covers Polymarket, Kalshi, Crypto.com, Novig, Underdog and Robinhood, and warns that failure to comply could lead to state enforcement action.
Hanaway’s office says the contracts amount to unlicensed sports wagering under Missouri law. Companies that wish to continue must obtain a state licence, pay required taxes and fees, and prevent anyone under 21 from wagering. “Companies cannot repackage sports bets as ‘event contracts’ to avoid Missouri law,” Hanaway said.
The letter sent to Polymarket on Sept. 16 gave the company 30 days to confirm that it had stopped the activity or was complying with Missouri’s sports-betting requirements. It said Polymarket’s US Rulebook allows users aged 18 and over to wager, while Missouri law requires online operators actively to prevent sports wagers by people under 21. The attorney general’s office made a similar allegation about Kalshi, Crypto.com, Underdog and Robinhood, saying they either permit underage access or lack adequate safeguards.
Missouri voters approved Amendment 2 in 2024, establishing regulated sports wagering under Gaming Commission oversight. The market launched on Dec. 1, 2025, with licensed mobile, online and retail wagering permitted. Operators are subject to a 10% tax on sports-wagering revenue; licensing fees can reach $500,000 initially and again at each five-year renewal. Tax revenue is allocated to regulatory expenses and problem-gambling programmes, while taxes and fees are directed to educational institutions and the Compulsive Gaming Prevention Fund.
The action follows the broader regulatory pressure on sports prediction markets that we covered in July, when the American Gaming Association identified state enforcement as a growing industry issue. Missouri’s legal position is that federal commodity law does not displace state gambling rules and that sports event contracts are not swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act.
That question remains contested in federal courts. The Ninth Circuit rejected Kalshi’s attempt to block Nevada from regulating its sports-related contracts, finding that the Commodity Exchange Act did not pre-empt Nevada law. But the Third Circuit reached the opposite conclusion in April, ruling that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had exclusive authority over Kalshi’s sports event contracts. Kalshi said it would seek further review of the Ninth Circuit decision.
