The NFL sent a letter to prediction markets, like Kalshi and Polymarket, asking them to refrain from offering contracts on what the league calls “objectionable bets.”
“As part of our ongoing engagement with the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission), we sent a letter to all sports prediction markets detailing our objectionable bets, mirroring the prohibited wagers in the legalized sports betting space,” NFL executive vice president Jeff Miller said in a statement. “Sports prediction markets are not effectively regulated currently.
“We will continue to engage with the CFTC in pursuit of the necessary guardrails to protect both the integrity of the game and consumers participating in these rapidly evolving markets.”
In the letter, obtained by The Athletic, the NFL listed contracts that are “easily manipulable by a single person, inherently objectionable, officiating-related and knowable in advance” as unacceptable.
The league listed a kicker missing a field goal, broadcast mentions, celebrity attendance, player injuries, officiating actions, coaching decisions and “live pick-by-pick contracts on who will be drafted” as examples of objectionable bets.
The common implication among the given examples is that they allow for the potential for insider trading.
Kalshi and Polymarket announced earlier this month that they would take steps to prevent insider trading on their platforms.
In a statement, Kalshi said it was “launching new technological guardrails that preemptively block politicians, athletes, and other relevant people from trading in certain politics and sports markets.” Polymarket announced it had updated and clarified its rules around insider trading and market manipulation.
The league’s request comes at a time when government officials are calling for more regulation of prediction markets, which allow users, often referred to as traders, to buy and sell contracts based on predictions for events, including sports, in states that have not legalized sports betting.
The prediction contracts differ from traditional sports bets in that traders are not putting their money up against “the house” as betters would with a sportsbook that sets the odds for a specific outcome.
This month, two U.S. senators — Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and John Curtis (R-Utah) — introduced a bipartisan bill aimed at preventing “CFTC-registered entities from listing any prediction contract that resembles a sports bet or casino-style game.”
Schiff also introduced a separate bill to prohibit any CFTC-registered entity from listing contracts on terrorism, assassination, war or an individual’s death.
That bill was introduced after markets like Kalshi allowed users to trade on events like whether Iran’s Ali Khamenei would be “out as Supreme Leader.”