Coinbase agrees to halt sports event contracts in Michigan under a deal with state regulators

The Michigan Gaming Control Board announced on October 7, 2026 that Coinbase Financial Markets has agreed to stop offering new sports-related event contracts to Michigan customers by 12:00 a.m. Eastern time on October 10, 2026, and to close out open positions by that deadline. According to trade coverage of the announcement, the restriction also reaches sports contracts traded on KalshiEX and other designated contract markets.

What Michigan gave in return

Coverage of the stipulation says Michigan will refrain from enforcement action against Coinbase for as long as the company stays in compliance and while the related appeals proceed in the Sixth Circuit. The arrangement does not settle the underlying question. Reporting says every party keeps its rights, obligations and defenses pending a final ruling from the Sixth Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court, and Coinbase continues to argue that federally regulated contracts fall under federal commodities oversight while Michigan treats them as unlicensed wagering.

Where this sits in Michigan's other cases

One outlet reports that a federal court denied Coinbase's request for a preliminary injunction in August 2026 and that Coinbase's own appeal is stayed while the Sixth Circuit resolves related appeals involving Robinhood, Polymarket and Kalshi. Trade coverage also describes the Coinbase terms as nearly identical to an earlier Michigan agreement with Robinhood Derivatives, reported as announced September 9, 2026 with a closeout date of October 9, and says Kalshi is restricted by a state court preliminary injunction rather than a voluntary deal. We have not seen the stipulation itself or the Robinhood agreement, so those details rest on secondary reports and may differ from the documents.

On September 25, 2026 the Sixth Circuit ruled against Kalshi in separate Ohio and Tennessee appeals, a decision this desk covered on October 2, 2026. We have not seen a statement from Coinbase or the board tying the Michigan agreement to that ruling, and we are not asserting a link.

What this does not change

This concerns prediction-market sports contracts only. It does not touch Michigan's licensed online casinos and sportsbooks, and Michigan remains one of the seven states with a live regulated iCasino market, alongside Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia. It also has nothing to do with sweepstakes casinos. A Michigan resident holding a Coinbase sports position should check Coinbase's own notices for how open positions are being settled, since we have not seen the settlement mechanics from the company.