Madame Ink

What is Madame Ink?

Powerball will next be drawn this Saturday (Sept. 19) with an estimated jackpot of $298 million up for grabs. The cash option is at $126.6 million.

Tonight (Sept. 18), the Mega Millions jackpot is $244 million, with the cash at $103.5 million.

The odds of winning Powerball are 1 in 292.2 million. The Mega Millions jackpot odds are 1 in 290.4 million.  

How to play Madame Ink

Polymarket and other prediction markets that ventured into sports trading last year maintain that they’re financial platforms governed by federal law.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) agrees, continuing to defend its claimed “exclusive jurisdiction” over sports prediction markets in federal and state courts across the nation.

The legal wrangling extends to Michigan, where Attorney General Dana Nessel has rejected Polymarket and the CFTC’s arguments that the Michigan Gaming Control Board has no regulatory authority over prediction markets, even the ones allowing traders to buy and sell shares of sports outcomes.

What is Madame Ink?

Medias24 reported the judge’s reasoning: “Internet access providers are technically the only parties able to end the manifestly unlawful disturbance resulting from access to unauthorised betting sites.”

The order was short-lived. The commercial court of appeal granted a stay on 26 January. According to Medias24’s 12 February report, it then annulled the order and rejected MDJS’ claim, ending the daily penalty. MDJS could still appeal.

The court action came as MDJS was warning of the financial impact of offshore betting. Director General Younes El Mechrafi told a parliamentary sport forum in December that illegal sports betting stakes reached about MAD3.5 billion in 2024. He put the cost to the state at some MAD700 million, split between the national sports development fund and the Treasury.