OG.com and Novig sue Missouri a day before cease-and-desist deadline

Two CFTC-designated contract markets filed separate federal lawsuits against Missouri officials on 16 October. Both want to stop the state enforcing its sports-wagering laws against the event contracts they list.

• OG.com: North American Derivatives Exchange, trading as OG.com Prediction Markets, sued Attorney General Catherine Hanaway and members of the Missouri Gaming Commission in the Western District of Missouri.
• Novig: Ludlow Exchange, trading as Novig, sued Hanaway and two Gaming Commission officials in the Eastern District.

Both are seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. Novig’s complaint also argues for a preliminary injunction.

The letters

The suits respond to cease-and-desist letters sent in mid-September.

• OG.com’s letter: dated 16 September. It said the platform was offering sports wagering without Gaming Commission regulation and demanded that it “cease and desist” or comply with Missouri licensing and tax rules. According to the complaint, those rules include a 10% wagering tax on adjusted gross revenue and licence fees of up to $500,000.
• Novig’s letter: dated 17 September. It gave the exchange until 17 October to comply. Otherwise the state “will pursue available enforcement actions”.

OG.com’s complaint says the letter was wrongly addressed to “Foris DAX, Inc. (‘Crypto.com’)” rather than to North American Derivatives Exchange.

OG.com’s complaint cites a 17 September press release from the attorney general. It says the same letter went to five other operators: Polymarket’s QCX, Kalshi, Novig, Underdog Sports Wagering and Robinhood Derivatives. In an interview that day, Hanaway said event contracts “fit four square the definition of gambling in Missouri”, even if their fee structure differs, according to the complaint.

The arguments

Missouri voters approved sports wagering through a constitutional amendment in November 2024, Article III, Section 39(g). Both complaints say the state’s position is that sports event contracts offered to Missourians are unlicensed sports wagering under that amendment, whatever their federal status.

The exchanges argue that the Commodity Exchange Act gives the CFTC “exclusive jurisdiction” over swaps and futures traded on a designated contract market. They say event contracts “comfortably fall within the statutory definition of a swap”. That argument has already been tested in several appeals courts, with mixed results.

The two plaintiffs differ in background:

• OG.com: North American Derivatives Exchange says it has operated as a DCM since 2004. It launched the OG.com brand in February 2026 as a separate platform for its event contracts.
• Novig: its parent was founded in 2021 to offer sports-based event contracts. Ludlow Exchange was formed on 14 October 2025 and designated a DCM by the CFTC on 16 June 2026. Novig added a “responsible trading standards” chapter to its rulebook on 12 August.

Why it matters

Missouri is in the Eighth Circuit, which, as far as the documents we reviewed show, has not yet ruled on the pre-emption question that has divided the Third, Sixth and Ninth Circuits. Filing just before the 17 October deadline is now a familiar tactic: get to a federal judge before the state files its own enforcement action in state court.

For operators, the immediate practical issue is geofencing. Each new cease-and-desist letter forces a decision on whether to keep serving residents while the litigation runs. Clearing members and market makers active in sports contracts should assume the state-by-state picture will keep changing until the Supreme Court or Congress settles it.

Sources

• OG.com v. Hanaway, No. 4:26-cv-00969 (W.D. Mo.), complaint filed 16 October 2026 — https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mowd.196376/gov.uscourts.mowd.196376.1.0.pdf
• Novig v. Hanaway, No. 4:26-cv-1780 (E.D. Mo.), complaint filed 16 October 2026 — https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.moed.232176/gov.uscourts.moed.232176.1.0.pdf