Nevada Gaming Control Board files enforcement action against Coinbase over prediction markets

Nevada’s Gaming Control Board filed a civil enforcement action against Coinbase, saying the exchange’s prediction-market products may be offering unlicensed wagers on sports-event contracts, according to a Feb. 3 press release from the board ^[1]. The complaint specifically alleges that Coinbase Financial Markets offered unlicensed sports wagering through its derivatives products ^[2].

The board is seeking to halt Coinbase’s prediction markets in Nevada and to enforce state gaming laws against the company, an action that follows Nevada’s earlier move to block Polymarket and highlights a growing clash between state gambling regulators and crypto derivatives oversight ^[3]. Coinbase has separately filed federal lawsuits challenging enforcement actions in three other states, underscoring that the dispute extends beyond Nevada ^[4].

The filing marks an escalation in regulatory scrutiny of crypto prediction markets as Nevada moves to apply state gaming rules to products that Coinbase and others have characterized as derivatives or financial contracts ^[1][3][4].