Underdog Sports is getting into prediction markets through a deal with Crypto.com that will see sports event contracts offered in 16 states, with a focus on states where traditional sports betting is still illegal.

Under the agreement, Underdog users in those states will be able to “trade” on event contracts across the NFL, NBA, MLB, college football, and more, according to a statement. 

An Underdog spokesperson tells Front Office Sports the prediction markets are available as of Tuesday in the following 16 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin. 

Of those, seven states—Arkansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Wisconsin—already allow some form of sports betting. The other nine still ban it entirely. In total, there are 11 states where sports betting is still completely illegal.

The contracts will be powered by Underdog’s technology, and will be available legally because of Crypto.com’s derivatives trading arm, CDNA, which is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The markets being offered are already available through Crypto.com; the agreement with Underdog gets those markets in front of the Underdog user base. On Crypto.com, users can trade on sports event contracts in all 50 states.

Rob Schwartz, a former general counsel at the CFTC who now works at law firm Morgan Lewis, posted on X that it’s “great for Underdog that it is first out of the gate among sports companies, albeit in a tech-provider capacity.”

Jeremy Levine, founder and CEO of Underdog, said in Tuesday’s statement that “prediction markets are one of the most exciting developments we’ve seen in a long time.” 

“While still new and evolving, one thing is clear – the future of prediction markets is going to be about sports – and no one does sports better than Underdog,” he said.

Levine’s remark about the future of prediction markets being “about sports” is notable because the rise of sports event contracts has come with controversy that is specifically tied to the sports aspect. Opponents say sports event contracts are sports betting in disguise, while prediction market operators say there is a significant difference, because their customers are wagering against one another as opposed to the house.

Kalshi, another prediction market platform registered with the CFTC, has faced an avalanche of pushback to its sports offerings since they launched earlier this year, including cease-and-desists from at least seven state regulators. In turn, the company has sued regulators in three of those states—New Jersey, Nevada, and Maryland.

Polymarket is another prediction markets platform that is preparing to reenter the U.S. after being prohibited from operating in the country since 2022 as part of a settlement with the Biden Administration.

Both Kalshi and Polymarket have support from the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr. He has been a strategic advisor to Kalshi since January, and last week he joined the Polymarket advisory board as part of an investment into the company from his venture capital firm, 1789 Capital.

The major sports leagues and traditional sportsbooks are very much aware of the growth in prediction markets. The NFL recently said it has the same integrity and compliance concerns about prediction markets as it does traditional sports betting. FanDuel recently announced a deal with derivatives exchange CME Group to enter prediction markets, although sports will not be part of the offerings, at least to start.

Underdog is most known for its daily fantasy sports offerings, although it also has a traditional sports betting arm. The company is a licensed sports betting operator in North Carolina only for the time being; it has plans to expand in Missouri, where sports betting is now legal but there are not yet any licensed sports books.

Barstool Sports claims an accounting firm and an advertising agency owe more than $4.2 million they failed to pay as part of a $6 million sponsorship deal that included advertisements for the accounting firm on the Pardon My Take podcast.

The suit, filed in New York federal court Thursday, alleges that Omega Accounting Solutions and O’Brien Sales & Marketing breached the deal, which was supposed to pay Barstool $6 million, in installments, through 2023. However, Barstool says it never received $4.2 million of that total. Omega owes more than $3.2 million, while O’Brien owes over $1 million, according to the complaint.

The deal was meant to position Omega—a California-based accounting firm—as a “marquee partner” of Barstool. Under the agreement, Omega was the title sponsor for the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl and also received ad placements across some of Barstool’s most popular shows, including Pardon My Take.

Additionally, Barstool says it “went above and beyond its obligations,” such as joining in on a press release announcing the agreement, even though that was not required and something Barstool “rarely does for advertising partners.” 

Barstool made efforts to collect the money, sending invoices and emails, at least some of which were ignored, and at this point, both Omega and O’Brien have refused to pay up, the suit says.

“Omega reaped the benefits of this partnership yet failed to pay Barstool over $3.2 million that it owes,” the suit says. “Omega’s advertising agency, O’Brien, misappropriated over $1 million that it was contractually obligated to pay Barstool. Defendants’ refusal to honor their contractual commitments has left Barstool with no choice but to file this lawsuit.”

The suit seeks the more than $4.2 million Barstool claims it is owed, plus interest. 

Representatives for Barstool, Omega, and O’Brien did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The suit comes not long after the company reached an expansive deal with Fox Sports under which Barstool founder Dave Portnoy will appear on the college football pregame show Big Noon Kickoff. Under that deal, other Barstool content and personalities will be featured on FS1. 

There was immediate backlash to that deal, with sources telling Front Office Sports that Ohio State has barred Barstool from campus and Portnoy from entering Ohio Stadium for the school’s opening-week matchup against Texas on Saturday. Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork subsequently claimed there was no ban, although Portnoy responded in a video saying he was indeed banned.

The California attorney general’s declaration that daily fantasy sports are prohibited under California state law has begun to result in legal actions from users who claim operators are responsible for the losses they suffered.

Underdog Sports and Boom Fantasy were hit with separate proposed class action lawsuits in California federal court by users who lost money on their daily fantasy sports games. The nearly identical suits allege the games constitute illegal sports betting under California law.

The same attorney is behind both suits, which were filed on behalf of different lead plaintiffs. The two suits also reference the advisory opinion issued in July by California attorney general Rob Bonta that said daily fantasy sports games are considered illegal sports betting under California law. California is one of 11 states where sports betting is still completely illegal.

According to both complaints, daily fantasy sports contests offered by the companies—including pick’em and draft-style games—are “merely a digital reincarnation of illegal sports betting.” They allege that the companies “deceive consumers” by branding themselves as fantasy sports when in reality they are using that description to “mislead regulators and consumers  into believing [they offer] harmless gameplay instead of unlawful sports betting.” The lawsuits each seek to certify classes of “hundreds, if not thousands” of consumers.

The suit against Underdog, filed Aug. 26 on behalf of lead plaintiff Sander Koning, says that Koning created an account after seeing advertisements on social media and television, and lost roughly $2,200 between September 2023 and August 2025. That suit says that Underdog never disclosed that the “true nature” of its daily fantasy sports games were actually “illegal sports bets.”

The suit against Boom Fantasy, filed Aug. 28 on behalf of lead plaintiff Steven Huynh, says he lost about $100 between March 2024 and March 2025.

The games in question resemble sports betting offerings such as prop bets and parlays, according to the lawsuits. For example, both suits note that the companies offer contests that are essentially prop bets, in which users “may be asked to predict whether Steph Curry will score more than 20 points, or whether Jimmy Butler will collect more than 7 rebounds, in a given game.”

If the companies had “honestly and accurately disclosed the unlawful nature” of their online platforms, the plaintiffs “would never have signed up,” according to the complaints.

The lawsuits signal more potential actions taken against these and other companies that offer daily fantasy sports in the state, both through other lawsuits on behalf of consumers or possible enforcement actions from the AGs office. Following Bonta’s July opinion—which Underdog unsuccessfully tried to stop from even coming out—the California Department of Justice told Front Office Sports it expected companies to “come into compliance with the law,” but that “any specific action beyond that is premature.” Bonta said in a television interview later that month that “the next step is our enforcement, and laws are meant to be enforced.” 

Daily fantasy sports operators have been under pressure since the AG’s opinion was issued. The same day the opinion was published, a group of consumer protection law firms filed four separate proposed class actions. The defendants were FanDuel, DraftKings, PrizePicks, and Underdog.

The lawyer who filed the two new lawsuits did not immediately respond to a request for comment from FOS, nor did representatives for Underdog, Boom Fantasy, and the California DOJ.