The National Football League has sent letters to prediction-market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket asking them to stop listing trades on football events that can be easily manipulated or determined in advance. An ESPN report said the NFL objected to contracts tied to items like an announcer’s words, player signings, coach firings and bets related to injuries on the field—events a single person could influence. League executive vice president Jeff Miller said the letters followed talks with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
CFTC Chair Michael Selig told ESPN that when a league raises manipulation concerns, the agency considers those concerns and “may prohibit the contract from being listed,” adding: “[T]he leagues are very well positioned to make those calls and so we are going to afford a lot of deference to the leagues on these types of issues.”
Under Selig, the CFTC has moved toward asserting broad authority over prediction markets even as state gaming regulators continue to sue platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. Earlier this month Major League Baseball signed a memorandum of understanding with the CFTC addressing requests for “integrity protections.”
Cointelegraph reached out to Kalshi and Polymarket for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
The NFL’s outreach comes as US lawmakers consider legislation targeting insider trading and other risks on prediction markets. Recent bills responded to unusual bets that appeared to reflect insider knowledge about US actions related to Iran, and another proposal would bar the president and members of Congress from wagering on such platforms.
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