- A petition filed 24 September by Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul details a 6 July bet on the New York Mets, placed from a New York account on Polymarket US and paid out by the platform.
- The filing lists contracts on Syracuse, St. John’s and a Buffalo-Albany football game, events on which New York bars even licensed sportsbooks from taking bets.
- New York wants triple Polymarket’s gains and US$100,000 per unauthorised sports offer, while Chief Legal Officer Neal Kumar said the company had tried to engage with the attorney general’s office.
A US$3.01 (AU$4.27) bet on the New York Mets, placed from a New York account in July, is part of the evidence in a lawsuit the state filed on Thursday to shut the prediction market’s U.S. arm out of New York.
Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul brought the case in state court against QCX LLC, which trades as Polymarket US. Citing an investigator’s affidavit, their petition says the account bought 6.39 contracts on the Mets beating the Atlanta Braves on 6 July and collected US$6.39 (AU$9.07) when they won.
Some markets named in the filing are off-limits even to licensed sportsbooks, because state law bans wagering on any event in which a New York college team plays.
On 7 August, Polymarket let users back Syracuse or St. John’s to win the 2027 men’s college basketball title, and on 24 August it listed a contract on Buffalo’s 3 September football game against Albany, according to the petition.
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Licensed Operators Pay About 51%
New York taxes licensed mobile sportsbooks at roughly 51% of gross revenue. Those operators generated about US$2 billion (AU$2.84 billion) in gross gaming revenue in 2024 and paid more than US$1 billion (AU$1.42 billion) in state taxes, the petition states. Polymarket holds no licence from the New York State Gaming Commission.
Beyond restitution and disgorgement of all gains, the state wants a penalty of three times those gains and US$100,000 (AU$142,000) for each unauthorised offer of sports wagering. Its proposed injunction would also stop Polymarket from taking bets from anyone under 21 or advertising on college campuses.
“I will always stand up for New Yorkers when bad corporate actors prey on consumers and threaten tax dollars that fund schools and critical public services,” Hochul said.
Polymarket Answers the State
Chief Legal Officer Neal Kumar said Polymarket had engaged with the attorney general’s office on the substance of its concerns and accused the office of preferring publicity.
“Any time the AG’s office wants to swing by, our door is open for a conversation about how we protect consumers and offer fair, transparent and legal markets,” Kumar said.
Alongside the state gambling counts, the petition accuses Polymarket of breaching the federal Wire Act by taking sports bets over the internet across state lines.
On 24 April, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which had sued Illinois, Arizona and Connecticut earlier that month, sued New York in Manhattan federal court, seeking a ruling that federal law gives it exclusive authority over event contracts.
Kalshi, which New York sued on the same grounds in July, lost a federal court bid that month to stop state regulators from enforcing gaming law against it.
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