Points of Focus

• The NFL sent CFTC Chair Michael Selig a letter demanding narrower contract definitions, a ban on margin trading, and a minimum age of 21.
• Daily contract listings on one major platform grew from 1,600 in April 2025 to 162,000 by April 2026.
• Unlike the MLB and NHL, which have partnered with prediction platforms, the NFL is actively pushing for tighter restrictions rather than commercial integration.

The National Football League (NFL) sent a letter dated July 27 to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Michael Selig, obtained by The Closing Line, telling the regulator that its draft notice of proposed rulemaking for prediction markets contains useful proposals but does not go far enough to address the specific risks that sports-based event contracts create for game integrity and consumer protection.

Brendon Plack, senior vice president for government affairs and public policy at the NFL, wrote that the league’s highest priority is preserving the integrity of its games and that this integrity is equally vital to the stable and orderly administration of event contracts tied to NFL games.

The letter calls on the CFTC to refine its proposed definition for contracts based on events that cannot be meaningfully differentiated from gaming activity, a formulation that would narrow the range of NFL-linked contracts permitted on federally regulated exchanges.

Four specific demands the league is making

The NFL’s letter centers on four operational requests.

The first is a ban on contracts that are easily manipulated by a single person, depend on discretionary officiating decisions, involve outcomes knowable in advance, or relate to player injuries. The June CFTC rulemaking already acknowledged these categories as likely impermissible, but the NFL argues the proposed language is insufficiently precise to prevent exchanges from continuing to list borderline products.

The second is a minimum participation age of 21, raised from the current 18. The NBA made the same request earlier in 2026. The NFL argues that the demographic overlap between young sports fans and prediction market users creates consumer protection risks that 18 as a threshold does not adequately address.

The third is a ban on margin trading for sports prediction contracts, which the league argues amplifies financial harm to retail participants who treat the products as entertainment rather than investment vehicles. No federally regulated prediction market currently offers margin on sports contracts, but the NFL wants that prohibition written explicitly into the final rule rather than left to platform discretion.

The fourth is a requirement for the National Futures Association to share data with state gaming authorities and to coordinate enforcement. The NFL wants the federal oversight structure to work alongside state regulators rather than supersede them, a direct challenge to the CFTC’s current position, which is to assert exclusive federal jurisdiction and actively litigate against states attempting to enforce their own gaming laws.

Why the NFL pushes back, yet the MLB and NHL partner with platforms

The NFL’s approach contrasts sharply with its peers. The MLB has partnered with Kalshi, while the NHL works with Polymarket, both favoring commercial integration over stricter regulation. Donald Trump Jr., an investor in Polymarket and adviser to Kalshi, is linked to both platforms.

By contrast, the NFL has consistently opposed sports event contracts, first sending cease-and-desist letters to Kalshi and Polymarket in March, then submitting CFTC comments in May, and finally escalating to the CFTC’s Selig on July 27.

The league’s stance reflects football’s status as the most-bet-on sport in the US and concerns that CFTC-regulated prediction markets could undermine its lucrative sportsbook data licensing agreements.

The regulatory context the letter is entering

Selig has taken a consistently pro-prediction-market stance in 2026, withdrawing a proposed ban on sports and political event contracts, defending the agency’s exclusive jurisdiction in court, and launching the rulemaking now under review.

With all four commissioner seats vacant, he has led these actions without a full commission vote. Meanwhile, daily contract listings on one major platform surged from about 1,600 in April 2025 to 162,000 a year later, reinforcing the NFL’s call for tighter oversight.

Submitted before the close of the CFTC’s 45-day comment period, the league’s July 27 letter is the regulator’s highest-profile sports submission and will test whether Selig adjusts his final rule in response to concerns from the country’s most commercially significant sports league.