Novig completed its latest transformation on Tuesday, this time to a sports-focused prediction market platform by launching its federally regulated exchange across the U.S.
Around seven weeks after receiving its registration as a designated contract market (DCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in June, Novig said on Aug. 4 that it now operates a sports-focused prediction market site “nationwide”.
Co-Founder and CEO Jacob Fortinsky said in a press release that the company has not only created “the best place to trade sports” but has also set the standard for what a sports prediction market should look like. The platform offers instant live trading, parlay trading options, a range of payment methods, and a new Novig Ranks leaderboard.
Where is Novig available?
Although Novig’s marketing and press release described the launch as a “nationwide” rollout, it does not technically operate in every state. Pages on the company’s website state that Novig is available to users ages 21 and older everywhere in the U.S. except for three states:
- Arizona
- Michigan
- Nevada
Each of those states is among the jurisdictions in which authorities have sued prediction market platforms in court in attempts to stop them from offering sports event contracts. The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) said in June that it has “successfully restricted the operation of all unlicensed prediction markets that had been known to be operating in Nevada.”
SBC Americas reached out to Novig seeking clarification on why those three states in particular are blocked off, but had not received a response at the time of writing.
Novig CEO describes launch as plan fulfilled
Commenting on the near-nationwide launch on X, Fortinsky positioned it as the fulfillment of a long-term strategy.
“This was the plan from day one,” he wrote. “When (co-founder) Kelechi (Ukah) and I started Novig, we believed sports betting should work like any real financial market: a true order book where traders set the prices, with no house.
“Federal regulation was always the destination, even when it was the longer, harder road. It’s surreal to actually be here … This is the beginning of a new chapter for Novig: a federally regulated prediction market built for sports.”
Welcome to the new me
Fortinsky’s company was formerly a peer-to-peer betting exchange, running into the interstate commerce restriction challenge posed by the Wire Act that faced Sporttrade and others. It subsequently transitioned to a sweepstakes-style gaming business before abandoning that operation amid pushback against sweeps casinos and sportsbooks across the U.S., including outright bans on the vertical in numerous states in 2025 and 2026.
Novig applied to the CFTC for registration as an event contract trading exchange in January under the name Ludlow Exchange LLC. It took around five months for the company to be approved by the federal regulator, a timeline which Fortinsky acknowledged was the fastest DCM designation in the commission.
A few weeks after its CFTC application, the New York-based firm closed a $75m Series B funding round, which it said valued the business at approximately $500m.
Novig stated that it will utilize numerous consumer safeguards, including market surveillance, protections against manipulation and insider activity, and comprehensive compliance standards. It says that it does not allow people younger than 21 to trade on its site; other prediction market exchanges such as Kalshi, Polymarket, and Crypto.com have a minimum age of 18.
Claiming to have surpassed $6bn in cumulative trading volume already, the operator added that “with nationwide availability, the company expects to accelerate adoption among sports fans while continuing to build the most liquid and efficient sports prediction market.”
Novig leads off with New York Mets deal
The confirmation of the wider rollout follows its splashy announcement last week that it is the exclusive official prediction market partner of the New York Mets, a deal that is the first of its kind between an MLB franchise and a prediction market platform.
The multi-year partnership will offer Novig visibility and integrations across the Mets’ Citi Field ballpark, its broadcasts, and digital and social content and campaigns.
Novig has established other sports partnerships since moving into the prediction markets space, including a branding deal with LIV Golf.
Underdog VP Warrington named Novig SVP
As it stretches its wings as a national prediction market, Novig has made multiple key hires in recent weeks.
In June, it named former Kalshi Chief Regulatory Officer and ex-CFTC Special Counsel Elie Mishory as its new Chief Regulatory and Legal Affairs Officer. On Monday, Fortinsky and Adam Warrington announced on LinkedIn that Warrington, a former Vice President of Responsible Gambling at FanDuel and Underdog, is Novig’s new Senior Vice President of External Affairs.
“Adam has spent years building protections inside the sportsbook model,” wrote Fortinsky. “He knows better than anyone where it falls short, and what it takes to build something fundamentally better. Prediction markets represent that next evolution, but only if they’re operated with the rigor, oversight, and consumer protections expected of serious financial markets.
“The goal isn’t to be marginally better than what came before. It’s to set a standard the rest of the industry has to answer to.”
