Novig Review: Fees, States, Welcome Offer and How It Works

Novig is a sports prediction market: a peer-to-peer exchange where adults in the United States buy and sell event contracts on game results, spreads, totals, player props and futures. It is run by Ludlow Exchange, LLC, doing business as Novig, which the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has designated as a contract market. As of 25 October 2026 Novig is available in every state except Arizona, Michigan and Nevada, and you must be 21 or older. Pre-game straight trades carry no trading fee, and the published welcome offer is $50 in Trade Credits after a $10 deposit.

This page explains how Novig works, what it costs with real arithmetic, where it is legal, and how it compares with Kalshi, PrizePicks Predict and Underdog. It is information only: we do not rate or recommend US platforms, and we hold no promo code. For the wider picture of how sports event contracts fit into US law, start with our guide to US sports prediction markets.

If trading or gambling is causing problems for you or someone close to you, call or text 1-800-MY-RESET, the free and confidential national helpline run by the National Council on Problem Gambling.

What is Novig and who regulates it?

Novig is a CFTC-regulated designated contract market (DCM) that lists sports event contracts. Its legal name is Ludlow Exchange, LLC, with an address at 169 Madison Avenue in New York. Instead of a sportsbook setting a price and taking the other side, Novig matches two customers who disagree. Each contract pays $1.00 if the outcome happens and $0 if it does not, so the price is the market’s estimate of the probability.

That structure matters for three practical reasons. First, Novig is not a party to your trade, so it has no reason to restrict customers who win; its own homepage advertises “Winner Limits: Never”. Second, its revenue comes from a transparent fee on some trades, not from a margin built into the price. Third, Novig’s legal basis is federal commodities law rather than a state sports-wagering licence, which is why it can operate in states such as California and Texas where no sportsbook is licensed, and also why several states dispute it (see the legal section below).

Novig announced its nationwide launch on 4 August 2026, saying it followed the CFTC designation. In the same announcement the company reported more than $6 billion in cumulative trading volume. Novig used to run a sweepstakes-style model with “Novig Cash” and “Novig Coins”; its help centre says both currencies are retired and any remaining Novig Cash balance was converted to US dollars. Everything now runs through one real-money account.

Where is Novig legal, and how old do you have to be?

Novig says it is available nationwide except Nevada, Arizona and Michigan, and that you must be at least 21 to open or use an account. Eligibility depends on where your device is when you trade, not on your home address. A Michigan resident visiting Ohio can trade there; an Ohio resident visiting Las Vegas cannot. Washington, DC is eligible. Novig checks location every time you open the app, so location permissions must be switched on.

The 21+ rule is a deliberate choice rather than a federal requirement. In its August 2026 launch post Novig called itself the only prediction market keeping a 21+ age requirement. Most rivals accept customers from 18, which puts Novig in line with state-licensed sportsbooks instead. If you travel into an excluded state with open positions, Novig says those positions still settle normally, but you cannot place new orders, deposit or withdraw until you leave.

Readers outside the US cannot use Novig. If you are looking for licensed international bookmakers instead, our bookmaker reviews cover operators that accept customers outside the US and UK.

The court fight over sports event contracts

Whether states can regulate sports contracts listed on CFTC exchanges is unsettled, and the answer is moving through the federal courts in October 2026. On 6 April 2026 the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Kalshi against New Jersey, treating the contracts as federally regulated. On 28 August 2026 the 9th Circuit went the other way in Nevada, holding that sports event contracts are not “swaps” and that Nevada’s gaming law can apply, according to CNBC’s report of the ruling. On 25 September 2026 a unanimous 6th Circuit panel ruled that Ohio and Tennessee may apply their gambling laws to Kalshi’s sports contracts.

New Jersey’s officials asked the US Supreme Court to review the 3rd Circuit decision. The petition, Flaherty v. KalshiEX, LLC, No. 26-299, was filed on 2 September 2026. According to the Supreme Court docket, Kalshi’s response is due on 9 November 2026, and the Court had neither granted nor denied review as of late October 2026. These cases involve Kalshi rather than Novig, but the legal question is the same for every exchange listing sports contracts, so a Supreme Court ruling would decide where Novig can operate.

Novig’s own excluded list (Arizona, Michigan, Nevada) is narrower than some rivals’. Underdog, for example, also excludes New York from its prediction markets. Ohio and Tennessee remain on Novig’s eligible list as of 25 October 2026 despite the 6th Circuit ruling, so check the app’s location check before you deposit, because availability can change quickly after a court order.

How does trading on Novig work?

Every Novig market is a set of contracts priced between $0.01 and $0.99. Buying a contract at $0.62 means you pay 62 cents and receive $1.00 if you are right, a profit of 38 cents per contract. Prices move as other traders buy and sell, before and during the game. You can hold to settlement, or sell your position early at whatever the market will pay.

Take orders and make orders

There are two ways to trade. A take order accepts a price already resting on the order book and fills immediately. A make order sets your own price and waits for someone to accept it. Novig’s help centre gives the example of a baseball market showing one team at 55.5%: a take order fills at 55.5%, while a make order at 54.5% waits until a trader accepts the other side. The distinction is not cosmetic, because under the current fee schedule only takers ever pay a trading fee.

Make orders carry a timer. Pre-game make orders cancel when your chosen duration ends or when the game goes live, whichever is first. Live make orders can run to “Game End” or for a custom period. Novig warns that it may switch an event to live before the listed start time, which cancels open pre-game make orders, so set shorter timers on events with uncertain starts such as tennis, golf and combat sports.

Selling a position before the end

Novig calls early exit “selling a position”. The app places an offsetting order on the other side of your trade at the best available price, so the amount you get back can be above or below what you paid. Selling works for straight trades only; parlays cannot be sold. If a market is too thin to produce a live price, the Sell button does not appear.

Settlement, voids and Fair Value Settlement

After a game ends, Novig grades trades against official data and normally settles within 30 minutes. If a stat is corrected after grading, Novig does not re-grade. When a contract can no longer produce a yes or no result (a player is scratched, a game is abandoned or never starts), Novig uses Fair Value Settlement: it pays the price the market traded at just before the disrupting news, calculated over a 30-minute window. This is a settlement, not a refund.

A worked example with our own numbers: you buy 100 “yes” contracts on a player’s rebounds line at $0.58, and the market’s fair value just before the scratch is reported is $0.49. You receive $0.49 per contract, so $49 back on $58 paid, a loss of $9. A trader who bought “no” at $0.42 receives $1.00 minus $0.49, which is $0.51 per contract, a gain of $9 on 100 contracts. On a sportsbook the same scratch would usually void the wager and return the stake, so this is a real difference to understand before you trade props.

Pushes, where the result lands exactly on the line, are also settled at fair market value. Markets shown as “X+” (for example “25+ points”) never push: exactly 25 counts as yes.

What does Novig charge in fees?

Novig charges no fee on pre-game straight trades taken in the app or on the website, and no fee on any maker fill. Fees apply only when you take liquidity on a live (in-game) market, a futures market or a parlay. Every fee uses one formula: Coefficient x Price x (1 – Price) x Number of contracts, so the fee is largest at 50 cents and shrinks towards both extremes. The coefficient is 0.06 for live and futures straight trades and 0.10 for parlays.

Two details matter. The taker fee on straight trades is added on top of the contract price; it is never deducted from winnings, and a winning contract always pays the full $1.00. Parlays are different: the price you are quoted already includes the fee. Novig also said that from 10 September 2026 golf and tennis futures carry no futures fee, while futures in every other league do. The fee page contains one FAQ line quoting 0.03 for live trades, which conflicts with its own table, so read the fee on the order ticket before confirming.

Worked example: three trades on one Sunday

Suppose you make three trades, each using our own illustrative prices:

• Pre-game straight trade: 250 contracts at $0.40 on a moneyline. Cost $100.00, no fee. If right, you receive $250.00, a profit of $150.00.
• Live straight trade as taker: 250 contracts at $0.40 after kick-off. Fee = 0.06 x 0.40 x 0.60 x 250 = $3.60. Total cost $103.60; if right, profit $146.40. Your break-even probability rises from 40.00% to 41.44%.
• Futures trade as taker: 300 contracts at $0.12 on a team to win its conference. Fee = 0.06 x 0.12 x 0.88 x 300 = about $1.90. Total cost about $37.90 for a possible $300.00 payout.

Had you placed the live trade as a make order at $0.40 and been filled, you would have paid nothing, and under the Maker Credit Program you would also receive a cash credit worth part of the taker’s fee (explained below).

How the fee scales with price

Because the formula multiplies P by (1 – P), the dollar fee is symmetrical around 50 cents, but as a share of what you spend it falls hard on favourites and rises on longshots. The table below uses the 0.06 live coefficient for 100 contracts.

The lesson is simple: if you trade live longshots, post make orders where you can, because the taker fee eats a larger slice of a small stake. When an order sweeps several price levels, Novig calculates the fee once on the volume-weighted average price of the whole fill, and it rounds fees to the nearest one hundred-thousandth of a dollar.

Parlay pricing

Parlays are quoted by Novig’s liquidity providers and the fee is folded into the quote. If the fair price of a three-leg parlay is $0.20, the fee is 0.10 x 0.20 x 0.80 = $0.016 per contract, so you are quoted $0.216. Fifty contracts cost $10.80 and pay $50.00 if every leg wins. In probability terms you need the parlay to land 21.6% of the time instead of 20%, an extra 1.6 points. Parlays cannot be sold early, and they cannot be taken through the API.

How do Novig prices compare with a sportsbook?

A traditional sportsbook builds its margin into the price. A typical two-way line priced -110 on both sides implies 52.38% for each side, which adds up to 104.76%. The extra 4.76 points is the book’s margin. On Novig, a pre-game straight trade on an even game might show 50 cents for each side with no fee, so the two sides add up to exactly 100%.

Real Novig prices are rarely a clean 50/50; the spread between the best buy and sell prices is where a market’s cost hides when no fee is charged. A market showing 51 cents on one side and 50 cents on the other has a one-point gap, still far tighter than 4.76 points. For a refresher on converting American prices into probabilities, see our explainer on how prices and implied probability work.

The comparison has limits. Sportsbooks offer boosts, insurance and bonus stakes that a straight price comparison ignores, and a thin Novig market may not have enough volume at the displayed price for a large order. The structural point stands, though: on pre-game straight trades you pay no fee to Novig, and there is no house on the other side.

What is Novig’s welcome offer?

As published on Novig’s site on 25 October 2026, new members who deposit $10 or more receive $50 in Trade Credits. The New Member Deposit Program started at 8:00 a.m. Eastern on 1 October 2026 and is set to run for one year unless Novig ends it earlier. Its terms do not ask for a promo code: you sign up, verify your identity, link a payment method and deposit at least $10. We hold no Novig code and none is needed.

Getting full value from the five credits

Because a credit must be spent on one trade and any remainder is lost, the contract price decides how much of the $10 you actually use. Contract counts are whole numbers, so prices that divide $10 evenly waste nothing.

If prices are fair, each credit is worth about its face value in expectation, so the five credits are worth roughly $50 before any waste. The range of outcomes is wide, though. Using all five at $0.50 on unrelated pre-game markets, you collect $20 for each one that wins: $100 if all five win, nothing if all five lose. The chance of five losses at 50% each is 0.5 to the fifth power, about 3.1%. Your own $10 deposit is not tied up by the offer: Novig says deposited funds can be withdrawn at any time with no playthrough.

Refer a Friend

Novig’s “Give $50, Get $25” referral terms took effect on 22 October 2026. Your friend gets the standard $50 in Trade Credits; you get five $5 Referral Credits, but only after you have completed at least five trades with your own money, risked at least $50 of your own funds and deposited at least $10. Referral Credits must be used within 7 days of issue, and you can earn them for up to five referrals.

How do Novig Points and Maker Credits work?

Novig runs two ongoing reward schemes, both filed with the CFTC. Novig Points is an opt-in monthly tier programme: eligible trading earns points, points move you up tiers, and each tier unlocks Trade Credits, deposit matches, or both, plus a share of a monthly incentive fund paid as Trade Credits. Points reset to zero at the start of each month and have no cash value.

Points rewards come with tight clocks. Each reward credit must be claimed within 7 days of becoming available and used within 7 days of claiming, and Trade Credits from the programme have the same one-trade, $0.01 to $0.60 rules as the welcome credits. The point thresholds and tier rewards sit in Novig’s filing with the CFTC rather than on the help page.

The Maker Credit Program, in its current form from 22 October 2026 to 21 October 2027, pays cash to traders whose resting orders are filled where a taker fee is collected. The base rates are 50% of the taker fee on eligible futures markets and 25% on in-game fills, with an extra 50% Performance Maker Credit for enrolled traders who meet Novig’s order standards in qualifying leagues.

Continuing the earlier example, if your resting make order supplies the other side of that $3.60 live taker fee, you pay nothing and receive a base credit of 25% x $3.60 = $0.90 in cash. On the futures trade, a maker filling against the $1.90 taker fee would receive 50%, about $0.95. Novig may change these rates within filed ranges on at least 48 hours’ notice.

How do you sign up for Novig?

Opening a Novig account takes a few minutes if your documents are to hand. Novig verifies age, identity and location automatically during sign-up, and the quickest way to confirm you are eligible is simply to start the process. Here is the sequence as described in Novig’s help centre and promotion terms.

1. Download the Novig app from the App Store or Google Play, or open the website, and choose to create an account.
2. Enter your legal name, date of birth and home address. Novig may also ask for the last four digits of your Social Security number and a photo ID, which CFTC identity rules require.
3. Allow location access on your phone. Novig confirms you are in an eligible state each time you open the app.
4. Accept the Member Agreement and the Ludlow Rulebook; your account is then approved as a member.
5. Link a payment method. Bank transfer or stablecoins avoid deposit fees; cards and Apple Pay carry a 3% fee.
6. Deposit at least $10 to qualify for the New Member Deposit Program; the five $10 Trade Credits are then issued.
7. Find a market, choose take or make, check the ticket for any fee, and confirm the trade.

You may hold only one Novig account. Novig says opening a second can lead to a temporary or permanent restriction, and the welcome offer is limited to one per Social Security number.

Novig deposits and withdrawals

Novig accepts bank transfers, cards, Apple Pay and the stablecoins USDC and USDT. Bank transfers (via Stripe or Aeropay) and stablecoin deposits (via Coinflow) are free and count as “discount pricing”. Credit cards, debit cards and Apple Pay are processed by Coinflow and carry a 3% fee, shown before you confirm. Withdrawals go to a bank account, a debit card or Venmo, with a $10 minimum.

The card fee is easy to underestimate. A $200 card deposit costs $6, and you would need to win back that $6 before you break even. Over a season of ten $200 top-ups, that is $60 paid to the card processor, more than the whole welcome offer’s face value in fees saved by using a bank transfer instead. Stablecoin deposits use a one-time wallet address that expires after 60 minutes; Coinflow returns funds sent after expiry to the sending wallet.

Withdrawals are held only for two reasons, according to Novig: pending identity verification, or money still tied up in open or unsettled positions. There is no playthrough requirement on deposited funds. Novig adds that payment method availability can vary by user and location, and that a card or Apple Pay account must be in your own name; third-party cards may be declined.

What can you trade on Novig?

Novig lists sports only. Its help centre names professional and college football (including Canadian football), professional and college baseball, the World Baseball Classic, men’s and women’s professional and college basketball, professional hockey, golf, men’s and women’s professional tennis, soccer and MMA. Not every sport is live at every time of year. The homepage summary is “moneylines, spreads, props, futures, and parlays”.

Parlays combine two or more legs and all must win. Novig also features “SGP+” same-game parlays on its board. There are no politics, economics or culture markets, which separates Novig from general prediction markets such as Kalshi. Novig says it keeps adding sports and takes requests through live chat in the app. Available markets also depend on the time of year: golf matchups and tennis set markets, for example, cannot be traded live.

Apps, limits and responsible trading tools

Novig has native apps on the App Store and Google Play and a web version. Trading through the API is supported for straight trades and is used by market makers. Location checks run each time the app opens, so a phone with location services switched off may be blocked even inside an eligible state.

Limits come from three places. The market itself limits you: a resting order shows how many contracts are available at a price, and a larger order fills at worse prices. Promotions limit you: credits are capped at $0.60 contracts, one per trade, with 30-day or 7-day expiries. Your own settings limit you: Novig’s help centre lists tools to set purchase and play limits, take a break or suspend your account, and links to independent support. Novig’s homepage states it never limits winners, because it does not take the other side of trades.

Taxes are your responsibility. Novig’s help centre has a section on tax reporting (1099 forms), and trading profits may be taxable income. Our safer betting guide sets out practical limit-setting habits that apply just as well to prediction markets.

Novig pros and cons

Novig’s strengths are cost and access: no fee on the most common trade type, no margin built into prices, and coverage of states with no legal sportsbook. Its weaknesses are the 21+ age bar, a sports-only menu, fee drag on live longshots, and the legal uncertainty that hangs over every sports prediction market until the Supreme Court acts.

Novig vs Kalshi, PrizePicks Predict and Underdog

Novig is a sports-only exchange in its own right. Kalshi is a general-purpose exchange that also powers other apps. PrizePicks Predict and Underdog are fantasy-sports companies that added event contracts through a brokerage (an FCM) and, in Underdog’s case, their own exchange. The table compares what each published by late October 2026.

For a pure price-focused sports trader aged 21 or over, Novig’s fee-free pre-game trades are hard to beat. Traders who want politics or economics contracts need Kalshi or a broker that routes to it. Fantasy players who want lineups and contracts in one balance are better served by the apps covered in our PrizePicks guide and our Underdog prediction markets guide. Sportsbook brands have moved in as well: see FanDuel Predicts and DraftKings Predictions.

Prediction markets are also distinct from sweepstakes sportsbooks, which use a dual-currency model under state promotion laws and face a growing list of state bans; our page on social and sweepstakes sportsbooks explains the difference. If you only want state-licensed sportsbooks, see our state-by-state US sports betting guide.

Is Novig safe to use?

Novig is regulated by the CFTC as a designated contract market, which means it operates under a filed rulebook, runs market surveillance and must file incentive programmes such as the welcome offer with the regulator. Contracts are fully collateralised: you pay the full cost when you trade, so there is no margin call. Identity checks are compulsory before withdrawals are released.

Federal regulation is not the same as state approval, though. Several states consider sports event contracts to be unlicensed gambling, and two federal appeals courts agreed with states in August and September 2026. If a court order or enforcement action reaches your state, access could be cut with little notice, although Novig says open positions settle normally when you are outside an eligible state. Disputes over grading go to Novig’s live chat, with a stated response time of 24 to 48 hours, and its member agreement includes mandatory arbitration and a class-action waiver.

Help is available any time: call or text 1-800-MY-RESET for free, confidential support.

Frequently asked questions

Is Novig legal in my state?

As of 25 October 2026 Novig is available in every US state and Washington, DC except Arizona, Michigan and Nevada. What counts is where you are physically located when you trade, not where you live. Federal courts are split on whether states can regulate sports event contracts, so availability can change.

How old do you have to be to use Novig?

You must be 21 or older. Novig set the 21+ rule itself; most other prediction markets, including Kalshi, PrizePicks Predict and Underdog’s Prediction Picks, accept customers from 18.

Does Novig charge fees?

There is no fee on pre-game straight trades or on maker fills. Taker trades on live markets and futures pay 0.06 x price x (1 – price) per contract, and parlays include a 0.10 coefficient fee in the quoted price. Card and Apple Pay deposits cost 3%; bank and stablecoin deposits are free.

What is the Novig welcome offer?

Novig’s published New Member Deposit Program gives $50 in Trade Credits, as five $10 credits, after a first deposit of $10 or more. Credits work on contracts priced up to $0.60, one per trade, and expire after 30 days. Novig’s terms do not require a promo code.

Can you withdraw the Novig welcome credits?

No. Trade Credits cannot be withdrawn or transferred. Winnings from trades made with credits settle as ordinary funds and can be withdrawn with no volume requirement, and your own deposit can be withdrawn at any time.

Is Novig a sportsbook?

No. Novig is a CFTC-regulated exchange where customers trade sports event contracts with each other. Novig does not set the price or take the other side, and it earns money from transparent fees on some trades rather than a built-in margin.

How long do Novig withdrawals take?

Novig does not publish a fixed timetable. It says withdrawals are delayed only by incomplete identity verification or by funds still held in open positions. The minimum withdrawal is $10, paid by bank transfer, debit card or Venmo.

Can people outside the US use Novig?

No. Novig serves customers physically located in eligible US states only. Readers elsewhere should use bookmakers licensed for their own country.