Connecticut Sends Cease-and-Desist Orders to Nine Prediction Markets and Nearly 30 Subpoenas to PSPs, App Stores and Data Vendors

Connecticut has widened its push against sports event prediction markets from operators to the infrastructure around them. The state has now sent cease-and-desist orders to nine companies and nearly 30 subpoenas to payment processors, identity-verification providers, app stores, sports-data firms and media organizations — a reminder that distribution and access rails can become part of the enforcement target, not just the betting product itself.

1. On Thursday, Sept. 10, the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection said it issued cease-and-desist orders to Polymarket, Coinbase, Crypto.com, Robinhood, Gemini, ProphetX, Novig, Webull and Underdog Predict. The order requires them to immediately stop advertising, offering, promoting or otherwise making sports event contracts or allegedly unlicensed online gambling available to Connecticut residents.
2. The same actions require the companies to let Connecticut customers withdraw funds held on their platforms. Connecticut warned that failure to comply could lead to civil penalties under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act or criminal penalties under state gaming statutes.
3. These are administrative enforcement actions, not final judicial findings. Connecticut’s position that the products amount to illegal gambling could still run into federal commodities law issues and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s authority over event contracts.
4. The state says the platforms do not meet Connecticut consumer protection and gaming standards and have accepted wagers from prohibited customers, including people younger than 21 and people on the state’s voluntary self-exclusion list. Connecticut also said prediction markets have offered contracts tied to Connecticut collegiate sports, which state law generally excludes from lawful sports wagering.
5. The subpoenas reach well beyond the operators themselves. Recipients include PayPal, Plaid, Paysafecard, Socure and LexisNexis; Sportradar, Genius Sports and Integrity Compliance 360; Apple’s and Google’s app stores and digital wallets; and Stripe. Connecticut also subpoenaed 15 media organizations, including ESPN and Hearst Conn.

For PSPs, app stores, KYC providers and sports-data vendors, the practical takeaway is straightforward: if a state decides a prediction market is functionally gambling, the state may not stop at the operator. It can reach the surrounding stack that helps the product get funded, verified, distributed and promoted.