Jeremy Bragin
Novig
A sports-only exchange with free pre-game trades and credits for resting orders
3.9/ 5
CoinStats scoreBest for: sports traders, since pre-game trades are free.
- Regulator
- CFTC: runs Ludlow Exchange, a CFTC-designated contract market
- Fee on $100 at 50¢
- $0.00 to $5.00
- Minimum deposit
- Not published
- Deposit options
- Bank transfer, debit card, credit card, Apple Pay, USDC and USDT
- Settlement and payout
- Typically within 30 minutes of a game ending.
- States
- Not available in AZ, MI or NV; 21 and over
Scored on our published method, from what Novig publishes.
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CoinStats may earn a commission if you open an account through links on this page. No venue pays for its score: it comes from the same published method, applied to every app.
Is Novig legit?
Yes. Novig is a federally regulated exchange, not an offshore app. The CFTC designated its exchange, Ludlow Exchange, LLC, as a contract market on June 16, 2026.
Three layers sit behind the app. Novig, Inc., founded in 2021, owns Ludlow, which runs the order book. Bitnomial Clearinghouse clears every trade and holds the cash. It has been a CFTC-registered clearinghouse since December 2023. The CFTC's designation order bars any broker from sitting in between. Ludlow has also contracted the National Futures Association for parts of its market surveillance.
The catch is how new this is. Novig went live as an exchange on August 4, 2026. For almost two years before that, it ran a sweepstakes app built on two virtual currencies. Before that, it held a Colorado sportsbook license, then left the state in 2024. Funding is not the worry. Pantera Capital led a $75 million round in February 2026, taking Novig past $105 million raised.
Regulation also does not settle state law. Connecticut and Missouri say its sports contracts are unlicensed gambling. Novig has sued five other states to keep offering them. The details are under state fights.
Is Novig safe? How your money is held
Start with where your money goes. It sits at Bitnomial Clearinghouse, not with Novig. Ludlow's rulebook says the exchange does not hold or invest member funds.
The account setup is unusual. When you sign up, you become a clearing member of Bitnomial yourself. So your deposit counts as “proprietary funds,” your own money at the clearinghouse. Bitnomial's “customer segregated” accounts are for the customers of futures brokers, and Novig has no broker.
Bitnomial's rules decide how that cash is held, and Ludlow's rulebook lets Bitnomial invest it within them. Every position is paid for in full, up front, with no margin. FDIC insurance covers bank deposits, not trading accounts. SIPC covers securities, and these contracts are not securities.
Getting in takes ID. You give your legal name, date of birth, address, phone and the last four digits of your SSN. A US driver's license or state ID may also be required. A third-party system decides, and Novig currently offers no manual review if it says no.
Read the member agreement, too. It lets Ludlow run a criminal background check and review your credit report. Text-message two-factor codes are opt-in. The app checks your location every time you open it.
Is Novig gambling?
Legally, Novig says no. Its contracts are regulated as derivatives under federal commodities law, overseen by the CFTC. In your wallet, the line is thin. You risk money on a game, and if you are wrong you lose it.
The real difference is who takes the other side. On a straight trade, Novig says your counterparty is another user, not the house. Its member agreement adds a caveat. Ludlow's affiliates may trade as market makers, take the other side of your order and profit from it.
Parlays work another way. Novig asks its liquidity providers for a price, and the best quote fills your ticket.
States reject the label. Connecticut ordered Novig to stop offering sports contracts in September 2026. Missouri's attorney general calls it “an online sports wagering platform.” Appeals courts are split on the same question in Kalshi's cases. Every case is on our prediction market legal tracker.
Novig lawsuits, state orders and complaints
Search “is Novig legit” and a Reddit thread sits near the top, with another titled “Novig SCAMMED ME.” Take such threads seriously, but sort them. If your worry is withdrawals, verification or settlement, Novig's rules are under payouts and safety.
In federal court records, we found no lawsuit by a customer against Novig. Its fights are with states, and Novig started five of them in court.
- Arizona's cease-and-desist letter Arizona's gaming regulator told Novig, then a sweepstakes app, to stop operating in the state. Novig still blocks Arizona today. Source
- Exit from New Jersey Novig told New Jersey users it would cut off access on August 15, 2025. Days later, the state banned most sweepstakes. It was at least Novig's fourth state exit. Source
- Novig sues New York Novig sued New York's attorney general and gaming regulators the day it launched there. It wants state gambling laws declared preempted. On August 11 a judge denied its emergency request. The judge pointed to a ruling against Kalshi in a near-identical case. Novig filed its reply brief on September 24. Source
- Connecticut's cease-and-desist order Connecticut named Novig among nine platforms ordered to stop offering sports event contracts. The order also tells them to let residents withdraw their money. Source
- Missouri's cease-and-desist letter Missouri's attorney general told Novig to stop, or to get a state license and pay state taxes. The letter gives it 30 days and threatens legal action. Source
Novig filed similar suits against Massachusetts, New Mexico, Washington and Wisconsin in August. The Massachusetts case is paused until the state's top court rules on Kalshi's appeal there. New Mexico agreed not to act against Novig while its case is paused. That pause runs to August 13, 2027, unless the court changes it.
The lesson: in several states, access could change after one ruling or order. Check your state's page before you deposit.
How Novig works
Every Novig market is a yes-or-no contract on a sports result. Think winners, spreads, totals, player props and season futures. Each contract costs under $1. A winning contract pays $1, and a losing one pays nothing.
| Cost of the contracts | $40.00 |
| Taker fee (0 to 0.1 × 100 × 0.40 × 0.60, by market type) | $0.00 to $2.40 |
| Total you pay | $40.00 to $42.40 |
| Paid out if the answer is Yes | $100.00, a profit of $57.60 to $60.00 |
| Paid out if the answer is No | $0.00, a loss of $40.00 to $42.40 |
That range runs from free to the parlay rate. Before the game, the same 100 contracts cost $40.00 flat. Taken live, the fee is $0.72, and on a futures market, $1.44.
You do not have to wait for the final. A straight position can be sold at the best price other traders will pay. The cash lands in your wallet at once. Back both sides of a game, and Novig pays the guaranteed part of your payout right away.
Parlays are stricter. Once placed, a parlay cannot be sold, cancelled or refunded.
Novig fees, with the arithmetic
Pre-game: free. Live: 0.03, or 0.06 on college football spreads and totals. Futures: 0.06, except golf and tennis. Parlays: 0.10. Each × contracts × price × (1 − price); makers pay nothing. On $100 at 50¢, which buys 200 contracts, that comes to $0.00 to $5.00.
The $0.00 applies to every straight trade placed before the game, taker or maker. The $5.00 is a parlay priced at 50¢, where the fee is already inside the quote.
Two details favor traders. Fees are added to what you pay, never taken from winnings, so a winning contract pays the full $1. And resting orders pay nothing.
Since September 10, 2026, makers also earn cash back. A resting order filled in-game earns 50% of the taker's fee, and eligible futures earn 70%. The credit arrives within seven days.
The costs hide in deposits instead. Cards and Apple Pay carry a 3% fee, while bank transfers, USDC and USDT are free. Every rate is in Novig's fee schedule. To compare apps, see our prediction market fees page.
Does Novig pay out? Withdrawal times and holds
Yes. When a game is final, each winning contract pays $1 to your balance. Settlement typically comes within 30 minutes, graded on official league data. A stat correction issued after grading does not change the result.
Withdrawals go to a bank account, a debit card or Venmo, with a $10 minimum. There is no playthrough rule on deposits. Most withdrawals process automatically, often within minutes. Some go to a compliance review, typically done within 24 hours and up to 48 when busy. Your bank or Venmo then adds its own time.
Three holds trip people up. A new deposit must clear before it can leave, typically within a few business days. Cash deposited by bank transfer can only go back to that bank account for 90 days. And stablecoin deposits come back as dollars, since Novig lists no crypto withdrawal option.
One more rule: a void is not a refund. If a player is scratched, Novig settles the contract at its price just before the news. Buy Yes at 52¢, see it settle at 45¢, and you lose 7¢ a contract.
| Deposited by | Deposit fee | When it can be withdrawn |
|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer | Free | Once it clears; for 90 days, only back to the same bank account |
| Debit or credit card | 3% | Once it clears, to a bank account, debit card or Venmo |
| Apple Pay | 3% | Once it clears, to a bank account, debit card or Venmo |
| USDC or USDT | Free | Once it clears, as dollars; there is no crypto withdrawal |
What you can trade on Novig
Novig lists sports and nothing else. There are no politics, economics, crypto or culture markets.
It covers pro and college football, baseball and basketball, plus the WNBA and pro hockey. Golf, men's and women's tennis, MMA and MLS soccer round it out. Most sports trade live, in-game.
Market types run from winners, spreads and totals to player props and season awards. Novig is not one of the venues in our live prediction market odds.
Novig legal states: where it is available
Novig says it is open nationwide except in Arizona, Michigan and Nevada. What counts is where you stand, not where you live. The app checks your location each time you open it, and you must be 21 or over.
Travel into one of those three states and your open positions still settle. You just cannot trade, deposit or withdraw until you leave.
Two more states want it out. Connecticut ordered it to stop sports contracts in September 2026. Missouri gave it 30 days from September 17 to stop or get licensed. Novig's eligibility page still lists only the three closed states.
It has also sued New York, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Washington and Wisconsin to keep its sports contracts open there.
Ignore older state lists. Some reviews still name seven closed states. A February 2026 post on Novig's own blog shows its sweepstakes-era map. Its help center carries the current list.
Not legal advice.
The Novig app and support
On the App Store, Novig rates 4.6 from 4,652 ratings. On Google Play it rates 3.2 from 1.27K. Both were read on September 25, 2026.
Those two scores tell different stories. The same App Store listing carried the sweepstakes app until August 2026, so older ratings describe a different product.
Novig runs on iOS, Android and the web. Traders can also connect by API, at the same fees, though parlays cannot be taken through it.
Support runs through in-app live chat and email. Limits on deposits and trading are built in, as are time-outs of 1 day to 6 months. Novig also honors selfexclude.io, a list that bars you across participating prediction markets.
Novig pros and cons
Pros
- Free pre-game trades. Straight trades placed before the game carry no fee, for takers and makers alike.
- Winnings paid in full. Fees are added when you buy, so a winning contract always pays the full $1.
- Paid to rest orders. In-game and eligible futures fills return 50% or 70% of the taker's fee as cash.
- Regulated, with no broker. A CFTC-designated exchange, cleared by Bitnomial, with no middleman between you and the order book.
- Exit before the final. Sell a straight position at the market price, or collect a hedge's guaranteed payout at once.
Cons
- Sports only. It lists no politics, economics, crypto or culture markets.
- Card deposits cost 3%. Cards and Apple Pay carry a fee; bank and stablecoin deposits are free.
- State pressure. Connecticut and Missouri have told it to stop, and Novig has sued five other states.
- Voids are not refunds. A scratched player's contract settles at the pre-news price, which can be below what you paid.
- Affiliates may take the other side. Its member agreement lets Ludlow's affiliates trade against you as market makers, and profit.
- New as an exchange. It launched nationwide in August 2026, after almost two years as a sweepstakes app.
Novig vs the alternatives
Novig ranks tenth of 15 apps in our ranking of prediction market apps, at 3.9 out of 5. Its edge is price on pre-game sports trades.
If you want more than sports, Kalshi lists every category we track, on its own regulated exchange and clearinghouse. Polymarket US also runs its own regulated exchange, funded by card, bank or wire.
Our verdict: is Novig worth it?
Novig is legit. It is a CFTC-designated exchange, its trades clear at a registered clearinghouse, and no broker stands in between. For straight trades before the game, it charges no fee at all.
The risks are specific. The exchange is months old, and two states have told it to stop. Voided markets settle at fair value, not at your stake. Affiliates may trade against you, and disputes go to arbitration unless you opt out within 30 days.
If those risks suit you, check whether prediction markets are legal in your state first. And as on any market here, you can lose everything you put in.