US prediction markets hire celebrities for NFL opening week as Connecticut tightens enforcement

The NFL season opener has kicked off a louder-than-usual marketing race among US prediction markets. With more capital behind them and a push for user growth, the platforms are leaning on celebrity faces, while state regulators are sharpening their stance.

1. In recent days, ads featuring LeBron James, Sydney Sweeney, Marshawn Lynch, Jeremy Piven, and even Pete Sampras have been circulating heavily. Sampras, who had been largely out of public life for nearly twenty years, appears in a Kalshi commercial tied to the US Open.
2. Polymarket has added James, Eli Manning, and Derek Jeter to its roster of public figures, while Novig has drawn attention with an ad starring Sweeney. The spot, titled Just Sports, had reached at least 9 million views on X by Friday afternoon.
3. In the Novig ad, the company takes aim at competitors that offer markets on subjects outside sports, including the timing of when Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would leave power. Novig says it limits its offering strictly to sports events. Sweeney sums up the pitch by saying the platform does not include bets on wars, deaths, or politics.
4. The other big shift is that celebrities are being brought in not just as spokespeople, but as investors. During the 2025-26 NBA season, Kalshi gave an equity stake to two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. According to the Wall Street Journal, Sweeney’s representatives later approached Novig about a similar investment, and the company ended up giving her an undisclosed amount of shares.
5. On the regulatory side, Connecticut has joined the states taking a harder line. On September 10, a day after the Patriots lost to the Seattle Seahawks, Governor Ned Lamont spoke publicly in Hartford about the growth of prediction markets. That same day, Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection sent cease-and-desist orders to nine unregulated operators, including Polymarket, Robinhood, and Underdog Predict.

Lamont said in a statement that these markets present themselves as legal and safe, while in practice they do not comply with the state’s consumer protection rules. For PSPs and acquiring teams watching this space, that is the part that matters: the customer acquisition race is getting louder, but the regulatory tolerance is not getting any broader.