Novig expands IC360 integrity deal as NBA season tips off
The prediction-market operator will use IC360's Bad Actor technology to screen users as it rides a valuation surge built on its Sydney Sweeney campaign.
Novig has expanded its partnership with integrity and compliance technology provider IC360, giving the prediction-market operator access to the firm's ProhiTrade "Bad Actor" system, iGaming Business reported.
The tool is designed to counter threats and harassment aimed at athletes, coaches, referees and sports organisations. Confirmed offenders are added to an encrypted registry shared across platforms that take part in the Bad Actor network. Signify, which specialises in social media protection and detection of bad actors, is working alongside IC360 on the initiative.
The announcement, made on Monday, lands a day before the start of the NBA's 2026-27 regular season, when the New York Knicks raise the championship banner for their first title in more than 50 years. Last week the league and its official sportsbook partners set out new prop and parlay restrictions intended to reduce the risk of match manipulation, including a ban on props for reserve players expected to log fewer than 12 minutes a game. Those rules apply to licensed sportsbooks only; prediction markets such as Novig's are not covered.
ProhiTrade lets Novig check its user base against an encrypted list of covered persons, including players, coaches and officials barred from trading on specific markets, to stop anyone with inside information or influence over outcomes from trading on restricted contracts.
"Sports markets only work if people trust them," said Jacob Fortinsky, Novig's co-founder and chief executive, adding that the deal helps the company keep people with inside information from trading, give users more control over their activity, and bar anyone who threatens or harasses athletes from using the platform.
IC360 co-chief executive Scott Sadin said the firm was "thrilled to have a partner like Novig who values integrity and compliance as much as we do," adding that adopting the full suite of services, including centralised self-exclusion and the Bad Actor programme, raised standards "across the entire ecosystem," according to iGaming Business.
The integrity push follows a month in which Novig's profile has been transformed by a multi-year endorsement deal with actress Sydney Sweeney, who took an equity stake in the company rather than a disclosed fee, according to multiple reports cited by iGaming Business. An initial ad from the campaign drew about 12 million views on X and nearly four times that figure on Instagram over 48 hours.
Novig closed a $75 million Series B funding round in February at a valuation of roughly $500 million. iGaming Business reported that the Sweeney deal has since pushed that valuation to approximately $2 billion.
A second Sweeney advert, which debuted on 9 October, touched on integrity themes directly, with the actress referencing betting on wars and dictators before contrasting it with Novig's focus on sports: "Novig is just sports."
Novig says it has built responsible trading standards into its exchange rulebook covering monitoring, participant protections and governance, and describes the IC360 tie-up as an extension of that framework. The platform is restricted to users aged 21 and over.
The integrity announcement also arrives against the backdrop of an illegal gambling case involving former NBA players due to go to trial over the next six months. Former Charlotte Hornets guard Terry Rozier is accused of passing non-public information, including plans to leave a game early, to a betting syndicate.