Ohio Ordered Novig to Stop. Sweeney Posted Another Ad.

Ohio gave Novig 14 days to stop taking sports bets in the state. On day 9, Sweeney opened a new video in her underwear and said she was flattered.

The Ohio Casino Control Commission sent cease-and-desist letters to ten prediction market operators on October 2, including Novig, Polymarket, Robinhood, Coinbase, and Underdog. Each letter demanded that the company stop providing sports event contracts in Ohio and confirm compliance in writing by October 16. The penalty for ignoring it: civil fines equal to every dollar taken from Ohio customers, plus potential criminal referrals.

The order followed a September 25 Sixth Circuit ruling that sided with Ohio in its case against Kalshi, holding that federal commodity law does not override Ohio's gambling statutes when it comes to sports contracts. The commission called Novig's product "unlicensed gaming and bookmaking," which carries felony-level exposure under state law. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who previously won a $5 million fine against Kalshi, framed the question simply: "These are really gambling, nothing more than that."

Sweeney's answer: another ad

On October 11, Sweeney posted a second Novig Reel on Instagram. She walks into frame in only underwear, covering herself with footballs. The opening line: "There are grown men making spreadsheets to bet on what color underwear I'm wearing. I mean, I'm flattered?"

She then pivots to brand positioning: there are people betting on dictators dying, armies of bots manipulating markets, and someone sitting in a bathroom stall betting their 401k on a war. And then, she says, there are people who just trade on sports. The caption: "No dictators. No market manipulation. No insider trading. No BS. Just sports."

The post drew over 650,000 Instagram likes within 24 hours. Ariarne Titmus, the four-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer who criticized the first ad in September, did not stay quiet: "How do we live in a world where monetizing a woman's body and sexualizing women's sport is still a thing?"

The business logic behind doubling down

Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky has made clear this is not a rogue endorsement deal. He told Responsible Gambling that Sweeney "was driving a lot of the visuals and the messaging" behind the campaign. She holds an undisclosed equity stake. The company's valuation went from $500 million to $2 billion in the weeks after the first ad ran. From a pure brand-building standpoint, the campaign delivered. The controversy was the distribution mechanism.

The Ohio order does not stop that math from looking good in the short term. The cease-and-desist applies to Ohio's market specifically, and Novig operates across multiple states. A Supreme Court review of the Sixth Circuit ruling is possible, which would reset the regulatory landscape. But October 16 is three days away, and no injunction has been reported.

What this run actually shows

The standard explanation for the Novig ad strategy is that Sweeney and Novig are playing the outrage cycle intentionally: controversy drives search, search drives downloads, downloads justify the spend. That reading is probably correct. What the Ohio cease-and-desist adds is a second variable: brand equity built on provocation is also regulatory liability. The same visibility that moved the app from No. 50 to No. 11 in App Store sports rankings is the same visibility that makes Ohio's case easy to prosecute.

Sweeney is flattered. Ohio is not.

Sources & further reading

• Ohio cease-and-desist letters to 10 operators (Covers, Oct. 5)
• Ohio expands prediction market crackdown after Sixth Circuit win (SBC Americas, Oct. 5)
• Sweeney's second Novig ad reviewed (Covers, Oct. 12)
• Sweeney mocks bets on underwear in new Novig ad (Bitcoin.com iGaming)
• Sydney Sweeney's second Novig ad pitches sports-only market (rg.org)