Mohegan Tribe warns of prediction market threat in Connecticut

Charlotte Capewell

16 February 2026 at 7:42am UTC-5

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The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority has backed Connecticut’s efforts in trying to block prediction market platforms in the state, arguing that they illegally encroach on tribal gaming operations.

According to the Hartford Business Journal, the news follows Mohegan’s first-quarter financial results, which revealed modest performance that fell short of strong expectations. The casino operator reported a small profit for the period, but much of that gain came from an accounting item rather than core gaming operations.

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Along with these figures, company leadership sounded a warning about growing competition from prediction market platforms that have been gaining popularity across the country. During an earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Ari Glazer stressed that the two tribes in the state have exclusive rights to gaming.

A statement released by the Mohegan Tribe said it was pleased to see Connecticut was attempting to block these platforms, after the state’s gambling regulator sent cease-and-desist letters to operators Kalshi, Robinhood, and Crypto.com in December.

“We stand with Attorney General (William) Tong and the State of Connecticut in their litigation against predictive markets to ensure full compliance with state law and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act,” it read.

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A handful of states, including Tennessee and Nevada, have issued cease-and-desist orders or taken similar action, arguing that the sports-event contracts these platforms offer constitute illegal gambling.

Charlotte Capewell brings her passion for storytelling and expertise in writing, researching, and the gambling industry to every article she writes. Her specialties include the US gambling industry, regulator legislation, igaming, and more.

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The Backstory

How a niche market became a flashpoint

Connecticut’s fight with upstart prediction markets has been building for months, fueled by a simple question with complex implications: Are sports-event contracts wagers or financial instruments? State regulators answered in December by ordering several platforms to stop offering sports contracts to residents, calling the products illegal, unlicensed gambling. In a detailed enforcement push, the Department of Consumer Protection issued cease-and-desist letters to Kalshi, Robinhood and Crypto.com, citing lack of a wagering license, offerings to those under 21 and consumer protection risks tied to unregulated settlement and insider trading controls. Our coverage broke down the action and the broader state trend in Connecticut orders prediction markets to stop offering sports contracts, noting similar challenges emerging around the country.

Regulators did not mince words in formal notices. The state warned Kalshi in a public order that its conduct could trigger criminal penalties if it continued operating, while also documenting specific compliance breaches. The cease-and-desist letters to Kalshi, Robinhood and Crypto.com framed the dispute in traditional gambling terms, not as a frontier of financial innovation. That legal posture set the stage for a broader clash over market boundaries, enforcement reach and who gets to profit from sports-driven speculation in a tightly controlled gambling state.

Why tribes see an existential threat

Connecticut’s two federally recognized tribes operate under compacts that grant exclusivity over most forms of gaming in the state, a foundation that has underpinned billions in investment and revenue-sharing with Hartford. Prediction markets that emulate betting without tribal licenses threaten that model by siphoning sports interest and dollars to unregulated apps, tribal leaders argue. The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority sharpened that case after a soft first quarter, warning that encroachment by prediction platforms adds pressure at a delicate time. The context, detailed by the Hartford Business Journal and linked by the company’s own remarks, signaled stakes that go beyond legal semantics: margins, market share and the integrity of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act framework. For background on that earnings tone and the warning, see the Hartford Business Journal’s report.

The tribes’ position mirrors mounting resistance elsewhere. As we reported, states such as Tennessee and Nevada have moved against prediction platforms, while tribes or officials in Arizona, Illinois, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio and New York have questioned whether sports-event contracts are gaming by another name. Connecticut’s cease-and-desist campaign fits that pattern and adds a potent plaintiff bench of state regulators and tribal stakeholders who argue exclusivity compacts lose meaning if third parties can parse the line between wagers and “event contracts” to reach the same consumer.

Digital expansion shapes the competitive map

The fight is unfolding as Mohegan leans into online growth. The operator’s igaming arm has extended its sportsbook and casino reach beyond its home base, fortifying omnichannel links that turn digital touchpoints into on-property visits and vice versa. In January, Mohegan Digital rolled out its first stand-alone online sportsbook in the Keystone State, integrating it into the Pennsylvania online casino app with a slate of pro and college markets. The launch, detailed in Mohegan Digital launches online sportsbook in Pennsylvania, underscores how established casino brands are mapping regulated opportunities while avoiding gray areas that invite enforcement.

Leadership moves have followed. Mohegan elevated longtime marketer Guy Greene to chief marketing officer for its digital division, tasking him with tightening brand positioning, accelerating performance marketing and syncing the award-winning Momentum loyalty program across apps and resort floors. That strategy, laid out in Guy Greene named CMO for Mohegan Digital, is meant to boost acquisition and retention as new digital competitors and product categories — including prediction markets — vie for attention and wallet share.

Consumer interest remains robust in regulated digital channels. In December, two Mohegan Sun Online Casino players in Connecticut hit jackpots of $750,000 each on titles in the Huff N’ Puff series, a reminder of the scale of legal online play inside the state’s walled garden. Our report, Two Mohegan Digital players win $1.5 million on Huff N’ Puff slots, highlighted the breadth of partnerships Mohegan Digital maintains with suppliers and platform providers. That ecosystem turns on licensure, testing and settlement integrity — the very controls Connecticut says prediction markets lack.

Signals from other jurisdictions

While Connecticut is drawing a bright line, other states are testing tribal and commercial partnerships to expand legal sports betting under existing frameworks. In Oregon, Caesars Entertainment this month began taking sports wagers through a partnership with the Coquille Indian Tribe at its Coos Bay property, adding kiosks and an expanded menu without opening the door to statewide mobile access that would bypass tribal oversight. The arrangement, covered in Caesars accepts bets with Coquille Indian Tribe, illustrates a model Connecticut’s tribes favor: regulated offerings channeled through compacted entities where compliance and revenue sharing are clear.

These contrasts matter. Where states and tribes move in concert, licensed offerings can grow without diluting the legal architecture that governs gaming. Where platforms attempt to reframe sports wagers as event contracts outside gambling law, regulators and tribes have shown a willingness to litigate. The next wave of decisions — at the state and potentially federal level — will determine whether prediction markets must conform to gambling statutes or carve out a separate lane.

The legal road ahead and what’s at stake

The cease-and-desist notices are only the opening salvo. If platforms defy the orders or seek judicial review, courts will be asked to parse whether their contracts are materially different from bets, whether the Commodity Exchange Act offers any safe harbor and how those answers square with state compacts and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Connecticut has previewed its theory through the December actions against Kalshi, Robinhood and Crypto.com, emphasizing consumer risks and unlicensed activity alongside exclusivity concerns.

For Mohegan and its peers, the outcome ties directly to revenue stability and investment planning. If prediction markets operate outside tribal and state licensing, they could drain sports engagement from regulated books just as operators deploy capital to scale legal mobile and retail channels. If courts affirm states’ authority to treat sports-event contracts as wagers, tribes protect exclusivity and the compliance standards that underpin it. Either way, the market is already adjusting: incumbents are accelerating digital features in places such as Pennsylvania, while states are refining enforcement playbooks to keep gray-market products out.

Connecticut’s posture signals it would rather test the question now than let new operators build an audience in the shadows. For tribes, that urgency reflects more than turf protection. It is a bet that clear rules — and where necessary, court rulings — will keep the line between finance and gambling from blurring in ways that undercut the regulated gaming economy they helped build.