Overview
Polymarket US answered Ohio’s October 2 cease-and-desist letter by suing on the compliance deadline, October 16, 2026. It sued the Attorney General, the Casino Control Commission’s interim executive director and its members. It is the first platform to sue Ohio since the Sixth Circuit’s September 25 decision for the State, which binds this court on preemption, and partly for that reason the complaint leads with a different theory. Count I says Ohio’s licensing regime violates the Commerce Clause, because sports-gaming licenses go only to applicants with an in-state physical presence. Count II is preemption under the Commodity Exchange Act; the complaint argues the Sixth Circuit decided its case “against a different legal landscape,” before the CFTC’s October 2026 rules on the definition of “swap.”
It seeks a declaration and preliminary and permanent injunctions against enforcement of Ohio’s gambling, nuisance and sports-gaming laws. The case was reassigned to Chief Judge Sarah D. Morrison on October 21 as related to Kalshi’s Ohio case, and Polymarket US moved for a preliminary injunction on October 27. (Caption, court, docket, filing date and counts read from the file-stamped complaint; reassignment and motion from the docket.)