A peer to peer sports exchange that won a federal designation in June 2026, after years as a startup running a sweepstakes model, newly regulated and built around sports.
Novig is a peer to peer exchange built mainly for sports, where you trade contracts against other participants rather than against a sportsbook. On 16 June 2026 it received a designation as a contract market from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which moved it from a sweepstakes style product into the same federally regulated category as Kalshi and lets it operate nationwide, per CNBC reporting in June 2026. Its appeal is the no vig idea: removing the margin a traditional book builds into its odds, in exchange for a small fee.
The one honest thing to know: the federal designation is very recent, so its day to day operation as a regulated exchange, including the exact fee schedule and clearing arrangements, is still settling. Treat the cost figures here as the pre designation model and verify the current terms on Novig's own site.
This page is general information, not financial, investment, legal, tax, or betting advice. Prediction markets and event contracts carry a real risk of financial loss. Verify the current rules and your own eligibility before participating.
Novig is a peer to peer sports exchange that won a federal designation as a contract market from the CFTC on 16 June 2026, putting it in the same regulated category as Kalshi and allowing it to operate across the United States, per CNBC reporting in June 2026. Instead of betting against a sportsbook that builds a margin into its odds, you trade against other participants, which is what the name no vig refers to, and Novig earns a small fee rather than a built in spread. It is open to verified users who are 21 and older, and because the designation is so recent, the exact regulated fee schedule and clearing details are still settling, so confirm them on Novig's own site before depositing.
Each platform is scored against the same rubric of five parts, weighted toward regulation and reliable payouts. Scores are illustrative editorial judgments, not investment advice, and a newly designated venue carries an unproven track record that we reflect in the payouts score.
A CFTC designation from 16 June 2026 is a large step up from the earlier sweepstakes model, though it is brand new and unproven in daily operation.
A clear sports focus with growing breadth. Peer to peer liquidity depends on matching a counterparty, which can be thin away from headline games.
The no vig model can mean better effective pricing than a traditional book, but the regulated fee schedule is new, so confirm it before trading.
A modern, approachable app built for sports fans, with custom odds and a clean trading flow.
Settlement now follows the designated framework, but the track record under federal oversight is short, so we hold this back until it is established.
Novig is an exchange for trading on sports and other events. The idea at its centre is simple, and it is the idea the name points to. When you place a normal bet at a sportsbook, the price you are offered already contains a margin in the book's favour, a slice that exists whether you win or lose. That margin is known in the trade as the vig, short for vigorish. Novig sets out to remove it by matching you directly with another participant who wants the opposite side of the same question, the way a financial exchange matches a buyer to a seller. No book sits in the middle setting the odds to its own advantage, and the platform earns a small, separate fee rather than a hidden spread.
In practice you buy a position on a defined outcome, for example whether a particular team wins a particular game, and that position is worth a fixed amount if the outcome happens and nothing if it does not. The price you pay sits between the two extremes and behaves like a probability. A position bought at a price that implies 60 percent is the market saying it views that outcome as a little better than a coin flip. The price moves as people trade, and it resolves to a definite value once the game or event delivers its result. This is the same yes or no structure used across the prediction market category, applied with a sports first design.
Novig was founded in 2021 by Jacob Fortinsky and Kelechi Ukah, who met as undergraduates at Harvard and built the company through the Y Combinator startup programme, per Y Combinator's own company listing and contemporaneous reporting by Sportico in 2023. The founders pitched it as a public betting exchange for sports fans frustrated by the margins built into traditional books. For a careful reader the practical takeaway is that Novig is young, sports led, and structured as an exchange rather than a sportsbook, and as of June 2026 it has just crossed into federal regulation.
Novig's regulatory path is the most important thing that changed in 2026, so it is worth setting out carefully. To offer real money trading in the United States before it held a federal licence, the company used two routes. It partnered with Full House Resorts on a long term licensing arrangement to operate in Colorado, and it built a sweepstakes style version of its app, sometimes called a free to play model, to reach users in other states without holding a gaming licence in each one, per reporting on its earlier operations. The sweepstakes route is a familiar workaround in the United States, but it is a workaround, and it does not carry the protections that come with being a regulated exchange.
That changed on 16 June 2026, when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission granted Novig a designation as a contract market, the same category of federally regulated exchange that lists futures and that Kalshi already holds, per CNBC reporting dated 16 June 2026 and a company announcement the same month. Reporting described it as one of the fastest designations of its kind in the agency's history, completed in under seven months. The designation lets Novig offer sports event contracts as a regulated venue and, in principle, operate across all fifty states under a single federal framework rather than state by state. It also brings the obligations that come with that status, including market surveillance, protections against manipulation, and compliance standards more familiar from financial markets.
Two honest cautions belong here. First, the designation is extremely recent, so the practical details of how Novig runs as a regulated exchange, including its published fee schedule, its custody and clearing arrangements, and the full list of states where trading is live, are still settling as of late June 2026. Second, the wider legal question of whether states can apply their own gambling laws to sports event contracts on a federal exchange remains contested across the industry. A federal appeals court sided with that federal first view in the Kalshi litigation in April 2026, but that fight is not finally resolved nationwide, and the same questions can touch any sports focused exchange. We track the moving picture on our legality hub rather than presenting any single state as settled.
A federal designation gives Novig a strong national footing, but whether every state will accept sports event contracts without challenge is unsettled, mirroring the wider Kalshi litigation. Treat any single state claim as something to verify on the day. See our US legality hub for the current position.
The clearest way to understand Novig is to follow a single trade. You decide you want a position on one side of a question. Rather than accepting odds set by a book, your order goes onto an exchange where another participant can take the opposite side. If someone is willing to trade at your price, the order fills and the two of you hold opposite positions in the same contract. Neither of you traded against Novig, and Novig did not shade the price to favour itself. When the event resolves, the winning side is paid from the losing side, and Novig collects its fee. This is the structural difference between an exchange and a sportsbook, and it is the same difference that separates Kalshi from a traditional book.
There is a catch worth naming. On a true peer to peer exchange, a trade only happens if someone wants the other side at a price you both accept. On busy markets, such as a major game, that is rarely a problem. On quieter markets, you might wait, or trade at a worse price, or not trade at all. To smooth this out, Novig has said it can act as a market maker when liquidity is thin, stepping in to take the other side so a trade can fill. That is useful, but it means that in those moments you are effectively trading against the platform, and a commission applies. It is a sensible design rather than a flaw, and it is common across exchanges, but it is worth understanding so the no vig promise is read accurately rather than as a guarantee of a perfect price every time.
To see why the model matters, it helps to picture where your money goes in each case. At a traditional sportsbook, the two sides of a market are usually priced so that their implied probabilities add up to more than 100 percent. That extra slice above 100 is the margin the book keeps, and it is often in the region of 8 to 10 percent of the priced market on standard lines, per reporting on typical sportsbook pricing. On an exchange with no vig, the two sides should add up close to 100, and the platform instead charges a visible fee. The diagram below shows the contrast in rough terms. The exact figures vary by market and over time, so read it as a shape rather than a precise measurement.
The honest reading is that no vig does not mean free. It means the cost is moved out of the odds and into a separate, smaller fee, which is easier to see and, on the figures reported for Novig's earlier model, generally lower than a typical book's margin. Whether that advantage holds for you depends on how often you trade, the size of your trades, and how the regulated fee schedule lands now that the designation is in place. Trading frequently still adds up, and a clear price is still only the market's current opinion, not a forecast you can rely on.
Here is where we have to be precise about what is known and what is not. The fee figures that have been reported for Novig describe its model before the federal designation, drawn from platform materials and reputable reviews as of June 2026. Under that model, Novig charged a take rate of roughly 1 to 2 percent on net winnings, applied only to winning trades, so a losing trade cost nothing beyond the stake. When Novig acted as the market maker to fill a thin market, a commission of about 1 to 4 percent applied instead. Reporting indicated no deposit fees as of June 2026. We have not independently verified a regulated fee schedule published under the new designation, so treat the table below as the pre designation picture and confirm the current numbers on Novig's own site.
| What | Detail | Source / status |
|---|---|---|
| Take rate on winnings | About 1 to 2 percent of net winnings, on winning trades only | Reporting, June 2026 |
| Market maker commission | About 1 to 4 percent when Novig fills a thin market | Reporting, June 2026 |
| Deposit fee | None reported | Reporting, June 2026 |
| Regulated fee schedule | New under the June 2026 designation; not yet verified by us | Confirm on Novig |
| Age minimum | 21 and older, plus identity verification | Reporting, Jun 2026 |
| Availability | United States, rolling out nationally under the designation | Reporting, Jun 2026 |
Table 1. Compiled by Prediction Market Index from reputable reporting and platform materials. Fee figures reflect the model reported as of June 2026, before the federal designation; the regulated schedule may differ. Verify the current terms on Novig's site before depositing.
Novig was built for sports fans, and that is where its depth is. The platform has emphasised letting users set their own odds and have a contest go live as soon as another participant accepts, which is a natural fit for the big, liquid sports markets where many people want to trade the same games. Coverage of major leagues and headline events is the heart of the product. Under the new federal framework, Novig is positioned to broaden the range of event contracts it lists over time, and reporting around the designation framed it as a sports focused entrant in a field that also includes broader venues such as Kalshi, Polymarket, Robinhood and Crypto.com.
For someone deciding whether Novig suits them, the practical points are these. If your interest is sports, the sports first design and the no vig pricing are the draw. If you want a wide menu spanning economics, politics, weather and financial indicators, an established broad venue will offer more today. And on any exchange, liquidity is uneven: the same no vig model that gives a clean price on a busy game can leave a quiet market thin, which is exactly when Novig may step in as a market maker. To understand how the prices you see translate into stated probabilities, our guide to reading prices as implied probability walks through it step by step, and our note on why prices are not predictions is worth reading before you treat any price as a forecast.
We read Novig's published materials and reputable reporting for these funding details rather than testing every method ourselves, and the figures reflect the model reported as of May and June 2026. Because the federal designation is new, deposit and withdrawal terms may be updated, so verify the current process with Novig before depositing. Funding and fee details are illustrative and dated.
We assessed Novig by reading its published materials, reputable reporting, and the June 2026 coverage of its CFTC designation on 28 June 2026. We have not opened a Novig account, so the cost and funding figures here are compiled from those sources rather than from hands on testing, and we have flagged where the pre designation model may differ from the new regulated terms. We do not take payment for a score or a place, and we will update this page as the regulated details are published. Read the full method on our editorial standards page.
A federal designation does not make any market safe to over trade. Prices move, positions can settle to zero, and the no vig model still has a cost. Only commit money you can afford to lose, never trade to chase losses, and never on borrowed money. A clear price is the market's current opinion, not a forecast you can rely on.
If trading stops being fun or starts to feel like a way to recover losses, free and confidential help is available in the United States from the 1800GAMBLER helpline and the National Council on Problem Gambling at ncpgambling.org. You must be 21 or older to use Novig, and of the legal age in your region.
Novig holds a federal designation and is rolling out to verified US users who are 21 and older, as of June 2026, so a direct comparison is useful. These side by side guides set Novig against other venues on regulation, costs, and who each one suits. We rate and explain; no platform pays for its place.
Novig received a designation as a contract market from the CFTC on 16 June 2026, which lets it offer sports event contracts as a federally regulated venue and roll out nationwide, per CNBC reporting in June 2026. As with other prediction markets, the application of some state laws to sports contracts can be contested, so confirm availability for your own state on Novig's site.
Novig runs as a peer to peer exchange, so you trade against other participants rather than against a sportsbook that builds a margin into its odds. That built in margin is the vig. Removing it is where the name Novig comes from. Novig instead earns through a small fee, and may act as a market maker when liquidity is thin.
Under its pre designation model, Novig charged a take rate of roughly 1 to 2 percent on net winnings, applied only to winning trades, and a commission of about 1 to 4 percent when it acted as the market maker, per reporting as of June 2026. The fee schedule under its new regulated framework may differ, so confirm the current terms on Novig's site.
Novig provides event contract trading to users who are 21 and older, per reporting on its June 2026 designation. You must also pass identity verification, and you must be of the legal age in your region.
Both are CFTC designated contract markets, but Kalshi has operated as a regulated exchange since 2021 with a broad menu across economics, politics, weather and sports, while Novig is newer, received its designation in June 2026, and is built primarily around sports with a peer to peer no vig model. Kalshi has the longer track record; Novig is the newer sports focused entrant.
Novig won a CFTC designation in June 2026 and is rolling out nationally. State pages track where access is settled or contested. Information, not advice; verify your own eligibility before participating.