The National Football League is pressing federal regulators to implement stricter rules for sports prediction markets, asserting that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) current proposals are insufficient to safeguard the integrity of games and protect consumers. In a formal comment letter submitted Monday, the NFL advocated for an outright ban on specific types of wagers deemed particularly vulnerable to manipulation. These include bets tied to officiating decisions, individual player performances, the outcome of a game's first play, coaching choices, and roster adjustments.
The league also proposed raising the minimum age for trading sports event contracts from 18 to 21, a threshold higher than what is currently permitted on platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. "We believe these objectionable contracts are detrimental to the long-term health of these markets, to the public, and to the leagues," the NFL stated in its filing.
This marks the NFL's first formal involvement in the CFTC's rulemaking process as the agency considers how to regulate prediction markets that have expanded into the sports realm under federal oversight. The league rejected the CFTC's concern that restricting contracts could merely push traders toward offshore platforms, emphasizing that market popularity should not supersede concerns about potential harm to the public. "Contracts imposing the greatest public interest concerns may be among the highest-traded," the NFL argued. "We do not believe that otherwise non-compliant contracts should be permitted because they are in high demand or might otherwise be traded on offshore markets."
The NFL's comments were submitted by the Monday deadline, alongside those from other major sports organizations including the NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, ATP Tour, PGA Tour, and the NCAA, as well as betting platforms FanDuel and DraftKings, and trading platforms Kalshi, Polymarket, and Robinhood.
With the exception of the NBA, which is reportedly engaged in discussions with Kalshi and Polymarket, the NFL is the only major North American sports league that does not currently have a partnership with a prediction market.
Former Senator Christopher Dodd, a co-author of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act aimed at enhancing oversight of financial markets, also submitted a letter to the CFTC. Dodd contended that the law was not intended to allow federally regulated prediction markets to supersede state authority over sports betting. "The explosion of prediction markets — especially sports wagering and event contracts — represents the type of rampant speculation we sought to prohibit with the Dodd-Frank bill," Dodd wrote.