Sports Prediction Contracts Hit $25B - Now the NFL Wants Them Reined In
The National Football League is drawing a hard line on sports prediction contracts, pushing federal regulators to do far more than their current proposals allow. In a letter dated July 27 and obtained by prediction markets newsletter The Closing Line, the NFL told Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig that the agency’s draft framework for event contracts is a step in the right direction — but not nearly enough to protect the integrity of its games or the consumers trading on them.
Key takeaways
- The NFL urged the CFTC to tighten proposed rules on sports prediction contracts, citing risks of manipulation and insider information abuse.
- The league wants a narrower definition of permissible contracts, a ban on margin trading, advertising restrictions, and a minimum participation age of 21.
- The NFL criticized the CFTC’s proposed 10-day review window for self-certified contracts as too short to catch problematic listings.
- Unlike the NHL and MLB, which have partnered with Kalshi and Polymarket, the NFL is actively pressing for tighter oversight of sports-based event contracts.
- CFTC-regulated prediction markets handled over $25 billion in trading volume in 2025, with new contract listings surging from roughly 1,600 to 162,000 daily between April 2025 and April 2026.
NFL demands stronger CFTC rules to protect game integrity
“The NFL’s highest priority is preserving the integrity of our games,” the league wrote in the letter, adding that this integrity is equally vital to the “stable and orderly administration” of event contracts tied to NFL games and to the protection of traders in those markets. The submission arrived as the CFTC closed its public comment period on proposed amendments to Rule 40.11 — a federal framework for reviewing event contracts linked to gaming, war, terrorism, assassination, and other activities identified in the Commodity Exchange Act.
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