The U.S. sports betting world moves quickly and unpredictably in 2025. In order to properly take stock of it all, we offer InGame’s “EndGame,” an end-of-week compilation of the top storylines, some overlooked items, and all the other news bits from this past week that we found interesting.
Underdog supports Kalshi vs. Maryland
Underdog filed an amicus brief Wednesday backing Kalshi in the prediction market’s lawsuit against the state of Maryland in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
In its brief, Underdog points to legislative history to argue that the federal Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) was always intended to preempt state sports betting laws, contrary to the opinion of District Court judge Adam B. Abelson.
cd5e1819-8c1c-4aaf-93f5-7cead64dbbc9“Statutory history drives home the conclusion that Congress has preempted the application of all state laws — gambling or otherwise — to the trading of derivatives on CFTC-regulated exchanges,” Underdog wrote.
Underdog is a tech partner of Crypto.com and offers its prediction markets in 16 states.
Kalshi investor Paradigm Operations also contributed an amicus brief in the Fourth Circuit. Paradigm had filed an amicus brief in Kalshi’s Third Circuit case against New Jersey.
Meanwhile, SEC filings show that Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang is joining Kalshi’s board, as is Twitch co-founder Michael Seibel.
Kalshi fields $10B investment offers
Kalshi has fielded investment offers that would value the business at more than $10 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg said the offers were unsolicited. It did not mention specific prospective investors or the size of stake that these potential backers are seeking.
The latest offers would represent a rapid jump in Kalshi’s valuation, as the business revealed only two weeks ago that it had raised $300 million at a $5 billion valuation. In a June funding round, the business was worth $2 billion.
WI lawmakers draft digital betting proposal
A Wisconsin draft bill would send the decision of whether or not to allow digital sports betting to the voters. Wisconsin’s tribes quietly began adding in-person sports betting to their compacts with the state and casinos in 2021.
According to a Wednesday Milwaukee Sentinel-Journal story, the latest proposal — which has not yet been filed as a bill — has the backing of lawmakers and tribal lobbyists. The bill would allow for a hub-and-spoke style setup, like that in Florida, and would allow for bets to be considered placed where received. Servers would be on tribal land.
Wisconsin has 11 gaming tribes that operate 25 brick-and-mortar casinos.
Jill R. Dorson
New Yorkers: No betting talk during games
Fifty-four percent of New Yorkers surveyed said sports commentators “should not be allowed to offer remarks on sports gambling and potential bets during live game broadcasts,” a Siena Research Institute survey revealed Oct. 16. Researchers polled 814 New York residents, ages 18 or over, by phone or via the web between Sept. 15-22.
Other results of the survey: 82% of respondents said they do not bet on football online, 85% said they do not bet on baseball games online, and 39% said they support the concept of legal sports betting while 37% said they do not.
Digital sports betting went live in New York state in January 2022.
Jill R. Dorson
100+ Kalshi markets soon on Robinhood
Robinhood is set to put more than 100 new Kalshi markets up on its “prediction hub” in the coming weeks and more eventually as part of a plan to “aggressively expand” its prediction market offering.
The stock trading app will offer every NBA regular season game as well as individual World Series games, while non-sports bets will include the New York City mayoral election and President Trump’s approval rating.
Robinhood said via an emailed press release that the expansion is set to take place over “the coming weeks.”
NCAA: Athletes can bet pro sports
The NCAA’s Division II and III councils Wednesday approved a new rule that will allow NCAA athletes and athletic department employees to bet on pro sports beginning Nov. 1. The Division I council approved the change earlier this month.
NCAA athletes and athletic department employees are still banned from betting on college sports, and the association wrote in a statement that while it will now allow wagering on pro sports, it does not advocate for betting.
Jill R. Dorson
Jupiter now offering Kalshi market
Crypto exchange Jupiter has started offering its users access to a Kalshi prediction market through an informal arrangement rather than a partnership with the platform.
Unlike Robinhood, Jupiter is not a futures commission merchant, nor does it have any other partnership role with Kalshi. Instead, it simply acts like any other user on the Kalshi exchange and buys contracts on the site when its users buy contracts on Jupiter.
The Jupiter prediction market is in beta testing mode at the moment, starting with a single market on Formula One’s Mexican Grand Prix. No other markets are available yet.
“Jupiter is solely a Registered Member of Kalshi, not a Partner, Affiliate, Registered Broker, or Futures Commission Merchant,” small print at the bottom of its website says. “Any user making purchases or trades on this platform is doing so only with Jupiter and has no contractual or legal relationship with Kalshi. Jupiter users’ sole legal and contractual relationship is with Jupiter.”
FanDuel debuts Blake Griffin ad campaign
FanDuel on Tuesday dropped its first ad starring former NBA player and Amazon Prime analyst Blake Griffin. “Am I ready to play again?” Griffin asks. Find out below. The ad is the first in a series.
Jill R. Dorson
Check this out
The role that data providers like Sportradar and Genius could play in the world of prediction markets hasn’t been totally clear so far. Sportico reports that Kalshi’s and Polymarket’s deal with the NHL, announced on Wednesday, could clarify the role of these data companies.
The Sportico article contains one particularly interesting nugget of information: Sportradar “already has a commercial relationship with Kalshi that includes the official data it shares with media companies primarily for story-telling purposes.”
Odds and ends
- FanDuel’s NBA show “Run It Back” opened its fourth season Monday with new co-host DeMarcus “Boogie” Cousin joining Michelle Beadle, Chandler Parsons, and Lou Williams. The show features a daily look at games, insights, and debate.
- Fanatics Sportsbook on Wednesday announced it is teaming up with Megan Thee Stallion for a series of advertisements during the NBA season that will debut in the next few weeks.
- The Connecticut Lottery on Oct. 17 opened a Fanatics-branded sportsbook at the lottery’s headquarters in Wallingford. It is the 12th retail sportsbook opened by the lottery, which by law can have up to 15.
- Pro League Network, which creates viral sports and odds on them to sell to sportsbooks, on Tuesday announced a partnership with OpticOdds. The deal is designed to utilize OpticOdds’ technology to speed betting data on events such as the CarJitsu Championship, SlapFIGHT, and Putt Tour to sportsbooks for smoother in-event wagering.
- Polymarket is creating an “elite content team” for sports:
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Missouri Regulator Issues Temporary Licenses To 10 Operators
