NFL urges CFTC to tighten rules for sports prediction markets

The NFL pressed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to strengthen its proposed rules for sports prediction markets, arguing the framework still leaves games and fans exposed to insider trading, manipulation and weak consumer safeguards. In a letter first reported by The Closing Line, the league said the proposal “fall significantly short” of protecting sporting integrity and asked the agency to bar contracts that can be controlled by a single person or hinge on information known before a market settles, including injuries, roster moves and other decisions involving players, coaches or team executives. The NFL also said sports awards markets should not receive lighter treatment because honors such as Offensive Player of the Year still depend on game performance even if winners are chosen by vote. Beyond contract design, the league called for an explicit ban on trading based on confidential information from teams, leagues or governing bodies, league-run lists of insiders prohibited from trading, a minimum age of 21, a centralized self-exclusion system, deposit and loss limits, cooldown periods, advertising restrictions and a ban on trading with borrowed money. The push underscores the NFL’s cautious stance toward prediction markets as the CFTC considers a June proposal to review sports-related contracts case by case rather than ban them broadly, while other leagues including the NHL and Major League Baseball have moved to work with platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket.