New York AG Sues Coinbase, Gemini Over Prediction Markets

New York Attorney General Letitia James filed lawsuits on April 21 in Manhattan state court against Coinbase Financial Markets and Gemini Titan, alleging the platforms operated unlicensed prediction-market gambling within New York.

The complaints say both companies ran markets where customers could trade on the outcomes of sports events, elections and other events without licenses from the New York State Gaming Commission. The filings assert those outcome-based contracts meet New York’s legal definition of gambling because results depend on chance or factors outside a user’s control, regardless of how the companies describe the products.

James’s office also alleges both platforms allowed users aged 18 to 20 to place wagers. New York law sets the minimum age for mobile sports betting at 21, and the complaints contend permitting younger customers violated that rule.

The attorney general is asking the court to recover illegal profits, impose civil fines equal to three times those profits, and order restitution for affected customers. The filings also seek injunctive relief to bar the platforms from accepting wagers from users under 21 and to prohibit advertising on college campuses.

Letitia James wrote in a statement filed with the complaints, “Gambling by another name is still gambling, and it is not exempt from regulation under our state laws and Constitution.”

The lawsuits cover a range of event-based contracts the filings describe as wagers, including sports outcomes and political events, and allege the companies did not obtain required New York gaming licenses before offering those products.

The cases represent a state-level enforcement action directed at prediction markets offered by major cryptocurrency platforms and ask the court to treat the products as gambling operations subject to state oversight, penalties and consumer protections.