Underdog sues Connecticut to block crackdown on sports event contracts

Sports gaming firm Underdog has sued Connecticut officials in federal court to stop the state from treating its sports event contracts as illegal gambling, extending its legal fight against state regulators to a sixth jurisdiction. Summary Underdog has sued Connecticut officials to stop the state from treating its sports event contracts as illegal gambling. The company argues that its federally regulated designated contract market falls under the CFTC’s exclusive jurisdiction. Connecticut recently ordered nine prediction market platforms to stop offering sports event contracts without state gambling licenses. Underdog has now challenged enforcement in six states, including Ohio, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New Mexico and Washington. Courts have reached different decisions over whether federal commodities law prevents states from regulating sports prediction contracts. According to Underdog’s lawsuit filed Tuesday, the company operates a federally regulated designated contract market, or DCM, and its contracts therefore fall under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s jurisdiction. Underdog argued that Connecticut cannot separately regulate the products under state gambling laws....