Connecticut Says Webull, Gemini and ProphetX Have Left After Its Cease-and-Desists

Connecticut's consumer protection chief says three of the nine prediction markets it ordered to stop sports contracts last month are leaving the state. None of the three has confirmed it publicly, and one industry analyst says ProphetX has not gone at all.

• Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) Commissioner Bryan Cafferelli said on Monday 5 October that three prediction market operators "heard that message and are leaving our state", and state officials named them to CT Insider as ProphetX, Gemini and Webull
• The three were among nine platforms ordered in September to stop offering sports event contracts to Connecticut residents and to let them withdraw their funds
• The DCP says it is in communication with the other six: Polymarket, Coinbase, Crypto.com, Robinhood, Novig and Underdog
• None of the three has published a notice of the change that iGaming Times could find, ProphetX did not answer Gaming America, and analyst Mick Bransfield said on X that ProphetX had not pulled out
• All three are also among the ten companies that Ohio told to stop sports contracts in letters dated 2 October, which demand written confirmation by 16 October

Connecticut Claims Its First Exits, Without the Operators Saying So

Three of the nine prediction market companies that Connecticut ordered to stop offering sports event contracts in September have stopped operating in the state, officials confirmed to CT Insider on Monday 5 October. "Our actions sent a clear message," DCP Commissioner Bryan Cafferelli said. "We will not tolerate illegal prediction market activity that preys upon the most vulnerable consumers. Three prediction market operators heard that message and are leaving our state accordingly. We are hopeful the rest will decide targeting Connecticut consumers isn't worth breaking the law."

Officials identified the three as ProphetX, Gemini and Webull, and said the department is in communication with the remaining six, according to CT Insider. Requests for comment to the companies were not immediately returned, the paper said. By Wednesday the statement had not appeared on the DCP's news release page, whose latest entry is dated 22 September, and none of the three had published a notice on the change that iGaming Times could find.

The picture is not settled. Mick Bransfield, a prediction market analyst, posted on X on 6 October that ProphetX "has not pulled out of Connecticut" and that the report naming it was in error, according to Gaming America, which said ProphetX did not respond when asked whether it was blocking Connecticut users. Gemini, through Gemini Titan, and ProphetX operate CFTC-designated exchanges, while Webull offers Kalshi-listed contracts through its brokerage, as iGaming Times reported on Monday.

The orders were announced on 10 September by Governor Ned Lamont and Cafferelli. They told all nine platforms to cease "advertising, offering, promoting, or otherwise making available" sports event contracts to residents and to allow withdrawals, and warned of civil penalties under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act and criminal penalties under the gaming statutes, according to the Governor's release. The state says the platforms accept trades from under-21s and self-excluded players and offer contracts on Connecticut college sports, which state law prohibits. Most of the payment firms, app stores and media outlets subpoenaed at the same time have since contacted the department, the agency told CT Insider.

The Holdouts Are Mostly in Court

Of the six still operating, Underdog sued the state on 15 September. The court docket shows that on 24 September Judge Stefan R. Underhill transferred the case to Judge Vernon D. Oliver, who refused Kalshi a preliminary injunction in August and is also hearing the CFTC's suit against Connecticut, in which Robinhood is seeking to intervene. The docket shows no ruling on the CFTC's injunction motion as of 7 October.

The Exits Came From the Companies Not Fighting in Hartford

The pattern is the useful part. ProphetX, Gemini and Webull are not parties to any of the Connecticut cases on the docket. Underdog is a plaintiff, Robinhood is seeking to join the CFTC's case, and Coinbase has its own stayed suit against the state. Leaving one small state is cheap for a business that has not staked a legal position on it, and expensive for one that has, because compliance would undercut the preemption argument it is making in court. Connecticut can fairly claim its orders work against the uncommitted. The harder test is the six that have not moved.

The Count Rests on the State's Word

"Leaving our state" may mean a geofence on sports contracts, a full exit or something in between, and no operator has said which. The ProphetX dispute shows the risk of announcing compliance on someone else's behalf. Nor has the DCP said whether residents' funds were returned, which its orders required.

Ohio's 16 October Deadline Is the Next Test

All three named companies hold Ohio letters too, and Ohio's position rests on a Sixth Circuit ruling rather than a district court decision. A firm that has left Connecticut has little reason to fight Ohio. iGaming Times found no public response to Ohio from any of the ten, or any new statement from the Ohio Casino Control Commission, by Wednesday.

Connecticut has turned nine orders into three claimed exits in four weeks. Until the operators confirm it, that number is the state's account, not yet a settled fact.