Novig Launches Federally Regulated Sports Prediction Market Platform Through Ludlow Exchange

Novig has launched its federally regulated sports activities prediction market platform by way of Ludlow Exchange, finishing its transition from a sweepstakes-based mannequin after months of preparation for a nationwide rollout.

The up to date Novig app went stay Aug. 4 with a “Now Available Nationwide!” message telling customers, “We’re now a federally regulated change.” Existing prospects had been required to simply accept new Ludlow Exchange agreements earlier than persevering with to commerce, with the choice of closing their account and withdrawing.

Novig is sticking with the sports activities focus that has outlined the corporate since its inception. The relaunched app was providing contracts throughout skilled baseball, soccer and ladies’s basketball, ATP and WTA tennis, UFC and the PGA Tour on Tuesday morning, carefully matching the breadth of merchandise Ludlow self-certified forward of launch.

Novig builds out sports activities contract lineup

One notable hole between Ludlow’s pre-launch filings and the app Tuesday morning was MLS, for which the change has additionally self-certified contracts. Contract guidelines within the app hyperlink customers on to Ludlow’s CFTC self-certification paperwork, together with the phrases governing particular person product courses.

Beyond customary game-level markets, Novig can be providing participant props and futures. Ludlow’s filings cowl particular person performances, season statistics, playoff outcomes and awards, permitting markets to stay open nicely past a single sport or occasion.

The change has additionally laid the groundwork for eventual multi-leg buying and selling. Ludlow’s rulebook permits for “Combination Contracts,” standalone contracts whose consequence relies on two or extra underlying legs. Its request-for-quote system can be utilized to create a brand new mixture based mostly on legs chosen by a buyer, offering the framework for a parlay-style product.

Ludlow information welcome supply, liquidity applications

Ahead of launch, Ludlow additionally filed six incentive applications with the CFTC overlaying new-user deposits, referrals and liquidity. The filings present Novig making ready each client promotions and applications designed to deepen its order books. At launch, Novig activated at the very least certainly one of them.

The app supplied a $25 “welcome again” buying and selling credit score for a $10 deposit. The credit are issued as 5 $5 commerce credit; a accomplished $10 deposit Monday confirmed $35 out there to commerce, together with the $25 promotion.

Ludlow has additionally created separate incentives for liquidity. Its Maker Credit Program would return a portion of the taker price to eligible customers whose resting orders present liquidity, whereas a broader Liquidity Provider Program can allocate reward swimming pools of as much as $50,000 per eligible market based mostly on the competitiveness and persistence of resting orders.

Novig is utilizing Bitnomial Clearinghouse to clear contracts on Ludlow. The new onboarding course of requires customers to simply accept a Bitnomial Clearinghouse acknowledgment alongside the Ludlow Exchange rulebook, member settlement and privateness coverage. Bitnomial has been registered with the CFTC as a derivatives clearing group since 2023 and is permitted to clear totally collateralized swaps. 

From sweepstakes to federally regulated change

Novig first launched as a state-regulated sportsbook in Colorado in January 2024 earlier than pivoting to a sweepstakes-based sports activities buying and selling platform that September. The sweepstakes rollout expanded Novig into 42 states and Washington, D.C., with merchants utilizing Novig Cash, a digital forex redeemable for money prizes, and nonredeemable Novig Coins.

By February 2026, Novig was making ready one other regulatory shift. The firm raised $75 million in a Series B funding round and disclosed plans to transition to a federally regulated prediction market platform. CEO and co-founder Jacob Fortinsky informed Sports Business Journal that Novig deliberate to section out the sweepstakes providing because it moved to a CFTC-regulated mannequin.

That transition moved ahead on June 16, when the CFTC designated Novig’s Ludlow Exchange as a DCM. Novig mentioned the approval would permit it to develop throughout all 50 states below a single federal regulatory framework, with a nationwide rollout deliberate for the summer season.

Novig saved its sweepstakes platform working after Ludlow obtained approval whereas it ready the brand new change for launch. The Aug. 4 transition successfully retired that mannequin for present customers: Novig informed prospects that Novig Cash and Novig Coins had been retired and the platform had moved totally to U.S. {dollars}. Existing money balances remained out there, whereas open trades from the earlier platform had been settled and returned to customers’ balances.

Novig enters a contested sports activities prediction market panorama

Novig additionally lined up a high-profile sports activities partnership forward of launch. On July 30, the New York Mets named Novig their unique official prediction market companion in a multi-year deal that features branding at Citi Field, on broadcasts and throughout the workforce’s digital channels. Novig mentioned it was the primary prediction market partnership with a person MLB franchise.

The New York tie-up comes at an uncommon second. One day after the Mets announcement, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Kalshi over sports activities, election and cultural occasion contracts, looking for to halt the choices and listing at least $36 billion in claimed damages. The motion adopted a July federal courtroom ruling that rejected Kalshi’s bid to forestall New York from making use of its playing legal guidelines to the change’s sports activities contracts. 

Novig has additionally emphasised client protections because it ready the regulated platform. On Aug. 3, the corporate introduced it had employed former Underdog and FanDuel accountable gaming govt Adam Warrington as senior vice chairman of exterior affairs, placing him in control of Novig’s “accountable buying and selling” technique and communications.

“Novig is taking a essentially completely different and consumer-first strategy to constructing this class,” Warrington mentioned in a information launch. “The alternative to assist form an organization the place accountability is embedded into the enterprise, and never layered on afterward, is extremely compelling. I’m excited to affix a workforce that’s targeted on incomes belief, elevating requirements and constructing the way forward for sports activities prediction markets.”

Tuesday’s launch places Novig squarely into an more and more aggressive and legally unsettled prediction market sector, with a transparent concentrate on sports activities.

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