The Cashout: How Kalshi, Robinhood, Sportsbooks And Fantasy Apps Are Doing For March Madness

Gambling news roundup: Robinhood halts college basketball betting in New Jersey; new sweepstakes betting exchange launches; updates on sweepstakes ban bills.

Mar 28, 2025

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TCL will offer market analysis in the US gambling space in The Cashout every weekend to paid subscribers, along with a news roundup for free subscribers.

Kalshi and Robinhood are seeing plenty of betting activity through one week of March Madness, but not necessarily customer acquisition. Also, how are the sportsbook and fantasy apps doing with the college basketball tournaments?

But first, here’s all the gambling news you need to know:

Gambling news roundup

ICYMI it yesterday afternoon, I broke this news… New Jersey Sends Cease-And-Desist Letters To Kalshi, Robinhood: “The New Jersey Department of Gaming Enforcement has issued cease-and-desist letters to both the prediction markets platform Kalshi and financial platform Robinhood, The Closing Line confirmed Thursday afternoon. The NJDGE alleges that both platforms are offering unauthorized sports wagering in the state.”
- Robinhood is now out of New Jersey, at least for college basketball. A Robinhood spokesperson provided this statement to The Closing Line: "Event contracts offered by Robinhood Derivatives are federally regulated by the CFTC and offered through CFTC-registered entities, assuring that retail customers can access these prediction markets in a safe and regulated manner. While we do not believe these contracts run afoul of any state laws, we are no longer allowing New Jersey residents to enter new positions for the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament event contracts.”
  - Robinhood says NJ residents can still access its prediction markets hub, which outside of basketball only consists of contracts for what the upper bound of the target fed funds rate will be in May.
- No word yet on what Kalshi plans to do regarding New Jersey, but “doing nothing” would not seem to be in the cards. And it seems doubtful they get an extension like they did with a similar C&D in Nevada.
- The Closing Line also understands that the revised deadline in Nevada is today.
- Barron’s (paywall) is reporting that Washington state regulators are looking into prediction markets.
- Kalshi added more sports futures markets, including playoffs markets/props for the NBA and NHL on Friday morning.
- If we get news on either NJ or Nevada, I’ll likely send out a newsletter.
G2E extended its call for speakers and content to Wednesday; you can learn more and make a submission here.
4Cx launches P2P sweepstakes, adds Paris Smith to cap table (Betting Startups): “The team behind invite-only betting exchange 4casters announces the launch of 4Cx in 30+ states today, and the addition of Paris Smith as an investor in the company … 4Cx is the US-facing counterpart to 4casters, another betting exchange owned and operated by 4C Software, a wagering platform Panos co-founded. The company recently brought former Pinnacle CEO Paris Smith onboard as an investor and advisor. …4Cx is free to play and reminiscent of other betting exchanges, but allows users to purchase gold coins for monetized play.”
- Site here.
- The founder is calling this “DFS 4.0” ... I think I must have missed what DFS 3.0 was after 1.0 (FanDuel, DraftKings) and 2.0 (PrizePicks, Underdog).
- It’s an interesting time to launch any sweeps product into the morass of regulatory and legislative pushback of recent months. But, as long as you have California and Texas, you have a market.
- There are a pair of sweepstakes exchanges live in many states — ProphetX (terms itself a “national sports exchange”) and Novig (terms itself a “prediction market for sports”).
Oklahoma governor says he's not a fan of sports betting bills, wants free market solution (KOKH): “Governor Kevin Stitt says he still isn't a fan of any sports betting bills that Oklahoma lawmakers are considering. He says those bills wouldn't benefit Oklahomans, and that they'd only help the tribes. ‘There's no possible way that I'm going to let one industry come into this building, give someone a sheet of paper and say, 'Run this bill,’’ Governor Stitt said. ‘I think that's the height of corruption. It's unbelievable.’”
- I would say calling what is going on in Oklahoma “the height of corruption” is some of the silliest hyperbole I have ever heard. Tribes are trying to protect what they view as their purview; I would call that smart rather than corruption.
Mississippi Sports Betting, Sweepstakes Bill Heads To Conference (Legal Sports Report): “A bill legalizing online sports betting and prohibiting online sweepstakes in Mississippi is heading to a conference committee.
The Senate declined to concur to changes made in the House to Sen. Joey Fillingane’s Senate Bill 2510, which initially passed the Senate by a 51-0 vote. …Once the bill was in the House, Rep. Casey Eure amended it to include his online Mississippi sports betting language, which had previously died in the Senate.”
- The sweepstakes industry is likely hoping that the debate over online sports betting ends up getting this bill killed entirely.
Florida Sweepstakes Gaming Ban Passes First Senate Test (Sports Betting Dime): “Florida lawmakers have taken the first step towards passing a bill to ban sweepstakes sports betting and casino games in the Sunshine State. The Senate Regulated Industries Committee this week unanimously approved Sen. Corey Simon‘s (R-3) bill, SB 1404, by an 8-0 vote. Simon’s bill prohibits ‘internet gambling’ and ‘internet sports betting’ outside of the Seminole Tribe, which effectively bans sweepstake gaming in Florida.”
Problem Gambling Advisory Bill Passes Out Of New York Senate (Casino Reports): “As Problem Gambling Awareness Month nears its conclusion, this week the New York Senate passed S 3632, which would create a problem gambling advisory council. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Nathaniel Fernandez and co-sponsored by Sen. Joseph Addabbo, was referred to the Standing Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.”
Sports Betting Tax Increases: State-By-State Impact Analysis (Casino Reports): “Put all these factors together, and it appears most state legislatures where bills were introduced to add the iGaming vertical in 2025 will remain horizontal with no movement forward. In iGaming’s place, though, some legislators are turning to a path of lesser resistance: raising tax rates on sports betting.”

Gambling industry reverse job board

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