Novig sells contracts tied to sports results, which makes it a prediction platform more than a sportsbook. It also clears users 21 and older, a choice the company says is deliberate.
The company told CNBC that the platform, which launched nationally on Aug. 4, produced more than $125 million in notional trading volume during its first week. Notional volume is the total value of contracts traded, not the amount of cash the exchange actually holds.
By its own count, Novig's opening week beat the sports-contract volume that Kalshi, Polymarket U.S., and Underdog did in their first weeks. The busiest day brought $26.3 million in trading volume, co-founder and CEO Jacob Fortinsky said.
Parlays made up a third of all trading volume, and baseball was the top market, according to people familiar with the company's operations. A parlay strings several outcomes into one trade, which raises both the payoff and the risk.
Novig is entering a crowded and growing field. Since May, Kalshi, Polymarket, and Polymarket U.S. have led monthly notional volume among prediction markets, according to Dune data.
Prediction platforms are also changing what they offer. They are moving beyond simple yes/no contracts with fixed payouts, the kind known as binary event contracts, and adding perpetual futures, contracts with no expiration date, and hedges for specific risks.
Experts say that is an attempt to win over Wall Street and get treated as real financial instruments.
Novig says it has no plans to chase that crowd. "Our focus is on markets tied directly to sports and competition," Fortinsky said.
The company is going all in on this category. It previously held a Colorado sports-betting license and then offered a sweepstakes product, but it has moved its entire business into prediction markets.
In June, the CFTC approved Novig's application to run a designated contract market, a federal license to operate a contract exchange. With NBA and Premier League seasons approaching, Novig wants to make sports its edge.
The fast start does not mean the road is clear. Several states call prediction platforms illegal gambling, and the CFTC, the federal agency that regulates event-contract exchanges, has sued multiple states over the issue.
Novig is pushing back. It has sued New York, Massachusetts, Washington, New Mexico, and Wisconsin, arguing that state gambling laws do not apply to its sports event contracts.
A federal judge in New York already denied Novig's request for a temporary restraining order, which would have blocked New York from enforcing its gambling rules against the company.
The early legal signals are mixed for Novig. Gaming attorney Daniel Wallach wrote on X on Aug. 9 that Novig's odds in the cases against Massachusetts, New York, and Washington "are dim" after courts sided with states in recent rulings.
Novig hopes its age limit helps its case. It allows only users 21 and older, and Fortinsky has said the 18-to-20 age group is especially prone to misbehavior.
He has also pushed other companies in the sector to adopt similar age restrictions.
Maybe your portfolio will never touch a prediction contract. That is fine. The fight still matters because it is about who gets to control new financial products.
The same federal agency that oversees futures and options approved Novig. Several states want to treat Novig like gambling. Courts keep making rulings, and each one changes the map of what is legal.
If you are 21 or older and live where Novig can operate, the app is there if you want it. If you live somewhere that calls it gambling, the next round of court cases will decide whether that changes.
