The National Football League (NFL) has asked prediction market platforms to stop offering some sports-related contracts that it says can be manipulated or known in advance.
The request puts fresh attention on Kalshi and Polymarket as U.S. regulators, lawmakers, and state officials review how far these markets can go.
The NFL sent letters on Sunday to prediction market operators, including Kalshi and Polymarket, asking them to avoid contracts tied to events that are easy to influence or determine before they happen.
According to ESPN, the league listed missed field goals, first-pass outcomes, draft picks, player signings, coach firings, broadcaster mentions, and celebrity attendance among the types of markets it opposes.
The league also objected to contracts tied to officiating, player injuries, and fan safety. It said these markets could create unfair pressure around the game and expose participants to unwanted claims tied to gambling activity.
NFL executive vice president Jeff Miller told ESPN that the league wants distance from markets that may depend on private information.
“Some people are going to have that information … that they can then share,” and added, “We’re trying to stay as far as we can from some of those sorts of inside information wagers that could exist in this space,” Miller said.
The NFL has not released the full text of its letters. Still, the message was clear: the league wants tighter limits on contracts that move beyond broad game outcomes and into events that one person can influence or foresee.
CFTC gives leagues more say
The league’s request came after months of talks with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency that oversees prediction markets.
Jeff Miller said the NFL does not yet have a formal agreement with the CFTC, but it believes the regulator values the league’s input on which contracts may invite manipulation.
CFTC Chair Michael Selig told ESPN that the agency will give strong weight to league concerns when it reviews these products.
“If a league is telling us that a contract is going to be readily susceptible to manipulation and an exchange is still trying to certify that, of course we’ll evaluate the risks there,” said Selig.
Selig also said the agency sees sports outcome trading as legal, while earlier administrations took a narrower view.
At the same time, he said the growth of sports contracts inside prediction markets means the CFTC must work more closely with leagues to understand which offerings cross the line.
That position gives sports leagues a larger role in shaping what these platforms can list. It also shows that the CFTC is moving toward case-by-case review rather than leaving exchanges to define acceptable sports contracts on their own.
Congress, states pressure prediction markets
Federal lawmakers have also started to act. A bipartisan Senate bill introduced last week seeks to block federally regulated prediction markets from offering transactions that resemble sports betting.
The bill adds to a wider legal fight around prediction markets in the United States. Several state regulators argue that some of these contracts amount to illegal gambling and should not operate under federal derivatives rules.
Arizona has already taken action against Kalshi, and other states continue to test the legal boundaries of these platforms. These disputes show that the fight is not only about one league’s concerns, but also about where sports trading ends and gambling begins.
The NFL said it has not yet engaged with the new bill. Miller told ESPN that the league still wants more guardrails in place before it would consider any partnership in the space, saying, “We want to make sure that whatever is being done in this space, we can do our best to protect the integrity of the sport.”
Other leagues diverge as CFTC expands oversight
While the NFL is pressing for tighter limits, other sports leagues have taken a different route. Major League Baseball recently reached an agreement with the CFTC to share information and meet regularly on markets that may be vulnerable to manipulation.
As previously reported, MLB has also entered the prediction market space through a partnership with Polymarket. The NHL, UFC, and MLS have also formed partnerships with prediction market operators, showing that leagues are not following one approach.
Polymarket said it is open to working with sports leagues on game integrity and fan protection.
“Polymarket welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with leagues across sports to protect the integrity of the games and the fan experience overall,” a spokesperson told ESPN.
The broader policy debate now reaches beyond sports. On March 26, Selig said on The Pomp Podcast that blockchain tools may help markets verify whether online content is authentic or generated by artificial intelligence.
Those remarks came days after the CFTC launched a new Innovation Task Force. The unit will work on rules for crypto assets, blockchain systems, AI and autonomous tools, and event contracts, while coordinating with the agency’s Innovation Advisory Committee.
The new task force shows that the CFTC is trying to update its framework as digital markets expand. Sports contracts now sit inside that wider effort, alongside crypto and AI-related issues that the agency says need clearer oversight.
The NFL’s latest move places pressure on prediction market firms at a time when the rules remain unsettled.
Regulators are reviewing sports contracts more closely, lawmakers want clearer limits, and leagues are now asserting a stronger role in what these platforms should be allowed to offer.