Polymarket Ohio lawsuit leans on new CFTC rules to fight ban

The Polymarket Ohio lawsuit puts another state on the prediction market legal map. QCX LLC, which does business as Polymarket US, has sued Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson and the Ohio Casino Control Commission in federal court, arguing the state cannot force it to stop offering sports event contracts, according to court filings reported this week.

What happened

The complaint was filed on Oct. 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, the deadline the commission had set for the company to confirm it had stopped. It names Wilson, the commission's seven members and interim executive director Andromeda Morrison, and the case is before Judge Douglas Cole, Unchained reported.

It answers cease-and-desist letters the commission sent on Oct. 2 to Polymarket US and nine other platforms and brokers, which told them to "immediately cease and desist from offering" sports contracts without an Ohio license. RG.org reported that Plus500US agreed to stop, while most others kept offering the markets past the deadline.

Polymarket makes two arguments. First, that Ohio's licensing rules discriminate against out-of-state firms, since online licenses go only to businesses with an operational site in the state and bets must be taken on in-state servers. "These discriminatory, balkanizing measures violate the Constitution's promise of open, interstate commerce," the complaint says. Second, that under the Commodity Exchange Act only the CFTC can regulate event contracts traded on exchanges it has designated.

Polymarket US says it became a CFTC-designated contract market on July 9, 2025, and it neither holds an Ohio license nor could get one. It asks the court to declare several chapters of Ohio's gambling code unconstitutional and preempted as applied to it, and to issue preliminary and permanent injunctions. Squire Patton Boggs and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher represent Polymarket US, RG.org said. Gov. Mike DeWine has called the products "pure and simple gambling."

Why it matters

The second point runs into a Sept. 25 ruling by the Sixth Circuit, which covers Ohio, against Kalshi. Polymarket says that ruling "was decided against a different legal landscape," pointing to two CFTC actions on Oct. 9: an interim final rule carving casino-style gambling out of the swap definition, which we covered in our CFTC interim final rule report, and a proposal that writes event contracts in.

The Polymarket Ohio lawsuit adds to a growing list. Utah sued Kalshi this week, as in our Utah Kalshi lawsuit story, and appeals courts are split: the Third Circuit sided with Kalshi against New Jersey, which has asked the Supreme Court to review that decision. "They need to come into compliance, or we're gonna force them into compliance," Wilson told the Ohio Capital Journal, as cited by RG.org.

What's next

As of Oct. 21, Polymarket had not asked for a preliminary injunction and Ohio had not responded, Unchained said. The full complaint is published by SBC Americas.

On Polymarket, the Supreme Court taking a sports event contract case by Dec. 31 was priced at 28% as of 08:21 MSK on Oct. 22. A Polymarket Ohio lawsuit win at district level would still face the Sixth Circuit precedent.