QCX LLC files federal suit against Ohio over interstate commerce bar

Polymarket's US operating entity, QCX LLC, filed a federal complaint on 16 October in Ohio's Southern District against Attorney General Andy Wilson, Ohio Casino Control Commission Interim Executive Director Andromeda Morrison, and seven commissioners, arguing that Ohio's sports betting licensing framework violates the Commerce Clause and conflicts with the Commodity Exchange Act.

The suit lands after Ohio regulators sent cease-and-desist letters on 2 October to Polymarket and nine other operators, demanding they stop offering sports event contracts without state licences. Most recipients kept operating past that deadline. Plus500US agreed to discontinue its sports contracts. Polymarket did not.

The complaint targets Ohio's requirements that wagering servers be located in-state and that customers be physically within Ohio to participate. Polymarket's CFTC designation as a contract market, granted 9 July 2025, sits at the centre of its preemption argument, though that argument faces headwinds: the Sixth Circuit ruled in September that Kalshi's sports contracts are not swaps and that federal law does not override Ohio's gambling statutes, a decision Polymarket argues predates the CFTC's 9 October interim final rule.