The National Football League is urging the Supreme Court to decide whether the federal government or U.S. states should have legal authority to set the rules for prediction markets.
In an amicus brief filed in support of a September petition by the New Jersey attorney general’s office, the NFL expressed support for prior court rulings favoring state regulation of prediction markets. Those rulings, from the Sixth and Ninth Circuits, “correctly concluded” that sports-related event contracts are not “swaps,” but rather amount to “sports gambling,” the NFL said in its brief.
The NFL filed its brief the day after a bipartisan coalition of states made a similar plea to the Supreme Court, asking it to resolve the regulatory dispute over prediction markets.
In its legal filing, the NFL asked the high court to decide whether states or the federal government should regulate prediction markets before the end of the pro football season in January. Any delay will “result in increasing consumer harm and risk to game integrity,” the NFL wrote.
Prediction markets are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal agency that oversees derivative markets, among other areas. However, at least 10 states have taken legal action against prediction market platforms, alleging that the sports contracts they offer constitute gambling and should be subject to state law.
An NFL source told CBS News that the league has asked the CFTC and prediction markets to adopt safeguards around gambling and insider trading. But neither the agency nor industry players have banned bets that could be susceptible to manipulation or raised the minimum age to bet on prediction markets to 21, the source said, up from the current minimum of 18.
In an email to CBS News, the league source said it is unclear whether the CFTC has the resources or staff to regulate sports betting, a concern echoed by some legal experts.
A Kalshi spokesperson said the company’s priority is the integrity of its markets.
“Contrary to the NFL’s statements, the CFTC is actively policing sports-related markets, which are now listed on nearly every U.S. commodities exchange,” the spokesperson said in an email. “The CFTC’s ongoing rulemaking addresses many of the NFL’s supposed concerns.”
A Polymarket spokesperson told CBS News in an email that the company has built advanced market surveillance tools and is working with the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission to develop a regulatory framework that it believes would be stronger than state laws.