The National Football League has reportedly told the Commodity Futures Trading Commission it is unhappy with the regulator’s latest prediction market rule-making.
The NFL wants the CFTC to ban operators from offering certain types of sports-related contracts, beef up its insider trading rules, and roll out user protection protocols that mirror those used by US sportsbooks.
“The draft rules fall significantly short of protecting the integrity of sporting events and the fans who participate in these markets,” the NFL wrote in a letter to the CFTC.
The NFL did not make the letter public, but the US-based gambling journalist Dustin Gouker appears to have obtained a copy.
NFL contracts attract millions of dollars’ worth of activity. But critics have hit out at Kalshi and Polymarket for offering contracts on events, including which ads would air during this year’s Super Bowl.
Critics say contracts like these involve information that is discoverable in advance and susceptible to insider trading.
In May, the NFL said it wanted the regulator to ban several types of “easily manipulable” contracts.
NFL: Prediction Market Rules Need More ‘Common Sense’
“It is surprising that further common-sense integrity and consumer protection measures provided in the Prior League Comment Letter were not adopted,” the NFL reportedly wrote.
The NFL has been explicit in its demands that operators refrain from offering contracts that a single individual can decide.
These include referee calls and the nature of the game’s first play. It has also called for an end to “inherently objectionable” contracts on injuries.
“We recommended the commission adopt proactive rules prohibiting certain contracts which are highly susceptible to manipulation or are otherwise objectionable,” the NFL wrote in its most recent letter.
It again reiterated that contracts that “are easily manipulable by a single person” are unacceptable.
And the NFL said it wants the CFTC to put an end to contracts that “depend on discretionary officiating choices,” as well as those that are “known or knowable in advance of settlement.”
The league reiterated other demands it made in May, including raising the age limit for sports contracts to 21.
The NFL also called on the CFTC to review its proposed rules on awards and to “go further to address” insider trading concerns.
Self-Regulation Insufficient, Says League
The league has poured scorn on the idea that prediction markets can be trusted to prevent insiders from accessing sensitive markets.
“Rather than rely solely on prediction markets to police their own markets, the commission must require our previously proposed league-specific prohibited bettors list as a necessary supplement to any proposed framework,” the NFL reportedly wrote.
And the league told CFTC Chairman Michael Selig that it wants Kalshi and the like to apply gambling addiction protocols.
It reportedly called on the regulator to “mandate certain widely accepted and commonsense consumer protection tools.”
These allegedly include a “centralized self-exclusion list.” The NFL also wants prediction market operators to enforce “deposit and loss limit controls.”
Prediction market players must also provide “time and contract notifications, activity summaries, cooldown periods, trade risk controls, and periodic activity notifications,” the NFL said.
The NFL is by far and away the biggest league for sports betting in the US. The league attracted around $30 billion worth of wagers last season.
Some analysts say that up to 60% of annual US sports betting volume and revenue takes place during the NFL’s September-February season.
Despite the frictions between some leagues and prediction market operators, others are actively teaming up with Polymarket, Kalshi, and others.
In March, Major League Baseball struck a cooperation deal with the CFTC and named Polymarket as its exclusive partner.
