The Ohio Casino Control Commission has renewed its cease-and-desist order against Robinhood Derivatives, giving the company until Oct. 16 to comply over sports-event contracts and putting its expanding prediction-market business under direct state scrutiny. The order arrives as Robinhood’s event-contract business grows into a substantial source of revenue.
Ohio’s order reaches beyond contract providers
Bonus.com reports that Ohio also sent notices to nine other firms, including Coinbase Global, Gemini Space Station, Polymarket, ProphetX and Webull. The order concerns sports-related event contracts and extends to firms that facilitate them through futures commission merchant or designated contract market activities, not just companies that directly offer the contracts.
The action follows a Sept. 25 Sixth Circuit ruling that, according to Bonus.com and Yahoo Finance’s account of the case, allows Ohio to apply its gambling laws to sports-event contracts despite industry arguments based on federal commodities law. The order therefore tests whether federally regulated firms can continue serving Ohio customers with these products.
The deadline has been reported differently across the coverage. Bonus.com and Yahoo Finance say Robinhood Derivatives must comply by Oct. 16; Cleveland.com reports that Ohio’s cease-and-desist letters demanded operators stop immediately and warned of consequences if they did not comply within 14 days. The accounts do not establish how those timing descriptions relate to the renewed order.
A state-by-state operating challenge
The Sixth Circuit ruling has sharpened Ohio’s enforcement position, but the dispute is not confined to one state. Robinhood and other platforms maintain that their event contracts operate under federal commodities rules, while Ohio’s action treats sports contracts as subject to state gambling laws. That divide could leave a company federally regulated yet unable to offer certain products in particular states.
Connecticut offers a recent example of how access can vary by jurisdiction. Bonus.com reports that ProphetX, Gemini and Webull have exited the state following regulatory action, while Robinhood, Coinbase and Polymarket remain in discussions with regulators. The pattern adds weight to concerns that operators may have to manage a patchwork of state restrictions even as they continue operating elsewhere.
Ohio’s position also lands amid wider litigation over whether states can apply gambling rules to prediction markets. The Sixth Circuit ruling was a development in the case involving Kalshi, and state gambling laws and prediction markets have become a recurring point of conflict. The decisions and enforcement actions so far do not establish a uniform rule across the country.
Growth makes the deadline commercially significant
The regulatory dispute is unfolding as Robinhood’s event-contract activity expands quickly. Bonus.com and Yahoo Finance report that event-contract revenue reached $156 million in the second quarter of 2026, up more than tenfold year over year, while trading volume reached a record 13.6 billion contracts.
Robinhood’s joint venture with Susquehanna began routing event contracts in June and contributed $17 million in second-quarter revenue, according to the reports. If other states adopt enforcement approaches like Ohio’s, restrictions could affect where those contracts can be offered and put pressure on the company’s Rothera initiative. The central business question is whether that growth can continue if access is decided state by state.
Robinhood Derivatives’ compliance deadline is Oct. 16. Whether more states follow Ohio or Connecticut remains unresolved, but the outcome could leave Robinhood active in some jurisdictions while losing access to sports-event contracts in others.
The post Ohio Sets Oct. 16 Deadline for Robinhood Sports Contracts appeared first on ReadWrite.
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