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’s lone launched sportsbook closing
Underdog is going all-in on prediction markets and its long-standing daily fantasy sports business, as it posted on its website this week that it will shutter its North Carolina sportsbook. The sportsbook was the only one that Underdog had launched, though it was licensed in Missouri and Ohio as well. The company withdrew from Missouri in November, ahead of the Dec. 1 launch. It never launched in Ohio.
Underdog first launched its prediction product Sept. 2 as a tech provider for Crypto.com. Since then, the company has announced that it will work with Kalshi for risk management, and the two companies along with several other prediction-market-only platforms Thursday announced the creation of a lobbying organization, the Coalition for Prediction Markets.
Per the Underdog website, all North Carolina sportsbook markets will be taken down at 11:59 p.m. next Tuesday. Any bonus funds not used by next Thursday will be converted to withdrawable funds, and any futures wagers that have not settled by then will be “paid out in the maximum amount.” Customers may withdraw funds at any time leading up to the shutdown, or after that can log into the Underdog daily fantasy site to access their wallet.
Fox exec: Sports betting in ‘rear-view mirror’
Speaking at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference, Fox Corp. CFO Steven Tomsic on Monday said operating a sports betting license on the company’s own is “in our rear-view mirror.”
Fox has stakes in Flutter and FanDuel, and way back when sports betting first became a states’ rights issue seven years ago, the company launched FoxBet. The product never really gained traction — since then, we’ve seen similar results with other media-sportsbook partnerships — and Fox is now content to sit back and let Flutter and FanDuel do all the heavy lifting in the wagering market.
“We have enormous respect for what Flutter brings to the table in terms of sports betting prowess,” Tomsic said. “And so we’re happy as a sports business to have that kind of — to bring the sports broadcasting element to it. But we’re happy to be sort of like an investor in something that we see as having decades of growth ahead of them.”
Is Polymarket volume double-counted?
Polymarket’s real volume is much lower than previously believed, according to a report from venture capital fund Paradigm, which is an investor in Kalshi.
The volume for Polymarket’s global exchange is recorded on the Polygon blockchain. However, this data shows orders filled for both the “maker” who lists odds and the “taker” who agrees to a bet at the listed price.
Because every trade has two parties, this results in double-counting, the report concluded.
Kalshi’s data, on the other hand, simply lists one side of the orderbook.
Daniel O’Boyle
Mixed messages from Georgia committees
The Georgia House Study Committee on Gaming tasked with making a recommendation on whether the state should legalize submitted its final report this week — and made no recommendation. The Senate Study Committee on Making Georgia the No. 1 State for Tourism recommends that the state legalize.
The House committee submitted a nine-page report that amounted to a review of its four meetings. The committee heard testimony for those in support and opposition of a gaming expansion at one meeting per month between July and October. The lack of a recommendation may be because Chairman Marcus Wiedower resigned his House seat in October to take a job in the private sector, leaving gaming with no champion.
In the Senate report, lawmakers pointed to neighboring North Carolina, writing that sports betting revenue in that state is used to bring in big events and that “Georgia’s tourism industry requires dedicated and substantially increased funding.”
Georgia lawmakers have been considering legal sports betting for at least five years but have never reached a consensus.
MLB to players: No prediction markets
Major League Baseball warned its players against betting on prediction markets late in the season, Front Office Sports reported late last week. In a memo to players and staff, league executives clearly expressed that “participating in ‘prediction markets’ to risk money on any outcome related to baseball games or events” goes against league gambling policies, the site wrote.
The memo was distributed in August but, according to the publication’s reporting, some players remain unaware of its existence. Other major professional sports leagues have taken differing approaches to prediction markets. The NHL has embraced the exchanges, making Kalshi and Polymarket partners, while the NBA’s legal team wrote a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission expressing the league’s concern about the lack of guardrails around the platforms.
Also in relation to prediction markets, NCAA president Charlie Baker had this to say Thursday:
Mizuhara television project in works
Lionsgate TV is developing a project for Starz that explores the gambling scandal surrounding former Shohei Ohtani interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, according to The Athletic.
Mizuhara was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison after being convicted of bank and wire fraud for funneling upward of $17 million from Ohtani’s bank accounts to cover gambling debts.
Brant James
Indiana bill would ban some betting by college athletes
An Indiana bill introduced Tuesday would ban college athletes from placing proposition bets on the sport they play in. SB 120 appears to have been written in support of a proposed NCAA rule change that would have allowed college athletes to bet on professional sports. The proposal passed and then was rescinded. Per NCAA rules, it is a violation for an athlete to bet at all. That said, it is not explicitly illegal for an of-age college athlete to bet in most states.
The Indiana bill would go part way in supporting the NCAA’s ban by prohibiting college athletes from making prop bets on their sport. This would mean a college athlete who does so would not only be in violation of NCAA rules but could face a civil penalty of up to $10,000. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Public Policy. Indiana’s 2026 legislative session began Dec. 1 and runs through Feb. 27, 2026.
The NCAA is headquartered in Indianapolis.
SIG results reveal market making challenge
New results filed by Susquehanna’s sports arm show the financial difficulties involved in market making, though they do not give any direct insight into the company’s trading operations on Kalshi.
The results from SIG Sports Analytics, published by the Irish Companies Registration Office last week, cover 2024 and therefore do not concern any market making on Kalshi. During the year, there were no sports contracts on Kalshi, and Susquehanna only traded via its SIG Government Products arm.
CR21483970-IN2059563Instead, the results primarily reflect performances trading on UK-based exchange Betfair.
It was not a successful year, as the company recorded a trading loss – a loss on betting results, before considering other costs like salaries and rent – of $8 million. SIG Sports Analytics had an overall loss of $23.7 million.
Daniel O’Boyle
Learning from those before you
When the Missouri Gaming Commission launched eight digital sports betting platforms Dec. 1, it did so with a year of preparation and the ability to examine how 40 other United States jurisdictions crafted rules, managed operators, and launched.
“It probably helped the regulators because that’s the difficult part of this — what laws you need to enact, what you need to monitor, how you work with the operators,” betMGM’s strategy executive Trip Stoddard told InGame. “There was a lot that they could pull from for a fast process. Then, for the operators, the logistics of going live here, you should really know the playbook by now. I think that helped out, but then the local market is also different. You still have a new market with new teams.”
Missouri voters narrowly approved legal sports betting in November 2024.
Brant James
Expert questions usefulness of prediction markets
The “godfather of prediction markets” is skeptical about the utility of Kalshi and Polymarket.
Robin Hanson, an economist at George Mason University, is widely seen as among the most influential figures in the early history of the markets and set up one of the world’s first prediction markets in 1990: an internal exchange for staff at software company Project Xanadu. He has argued that government policies should be made using prediction markets.
Hanson said that for most questions on Kalshi and Polymarket, he didn’t “have great confidence in” whether there was a useful purpose.
He added that if prediction markets continue to grow, they could provide a more useful purpose, but said there was also a risk that they would create a backlash that would be counterproductive.
Daniel O’Boyle
Matchbook to launch US prediction market
UK-based betting exchange Matchbook will launch a prediction market in the U.S. after a “road test” in the U.K., CEO Ronan McDonagh revealed in an interview with Bloomberg.
The exchange is reportedly tied to RSBIX’s bid for designated contract market status with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, filed in September.
“We’ll be able to compete on day one in the U.S.,” McDonagh told Bloomberg.
Daniel O’Boyle
Odds and ends
- Per CDC Gaming, Boomer’s and Caesars have petitioned the Nevada Gaming Commission for additional retail sports betting licenses. Boomer’s has plans to open a kiosk location in Tonopah, between Reno and Las Vegas, while Caesars will be rebranding four William Hill sportsbooks.
- The Vermont Department of Mental Health on Jan. 13 will begin offering a free 10-week course for addiction and substance abuse professionals titled, “Problem Gambling Essentials Training.” The classes begin almost two years after the state launched legal digital sports betting.
- The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement this week fined DraftKings $32,500 for myriad violations, including taking bets on events that had already happened, offering betting on an in-state college team, and misspelling an athlete’s name.
- Tennessee’s Sports Wagering Council (SWC) announced Wednesday that it has fined illegal sportsbooks BetDSI and BetNow $50,000 each after sending each a cease-and-desist letter. Per a press release, the SWC has sent 24 cease-and-desist letters, and seven illegal operators have left the state.
ICYMI on InGame
Chicago Aldermen’s Alternate Budget Contains Sports Betting Tax
Too Big To Fail? Fanatics Markets Launch Opens New Chapter In Operators Vs. Regulators
Fanatics Markets Is A Prediction Platform Sports Bettors Should Find Familiar
Judge In Massachusetts Kalshi Case Mulls New Standard For What Counts As Swap
Court Rules Connecticut Can’t Enforce Cease-And-Desist Against Kalshi For Now
Could House Committee Limit Sports Event Contracts With CFTC ‘Reauthorization’ Deal?
Sports Betting Alliance Hires Former AGA SVP Maloney As President
