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The NBA stressed integrity protection and preserving public confidence to the federal agency that regulates prediction markets.
Key Takeaways
- The NBA wants the age limit for sports contract trading to be raised from 18 to 21.
- The league called for a stoppage of player props until “risks” can be mitigated.
- MLB and others also weighed in on the CFTC’s request for public response.
The professional basketball league urged the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to provide more restrictions and limit certain contract markets in a public response letter on Thursday.
“While this letter takes no position on the legal question of whether sports prediction markets constitute gambling under federal or state law, we believe that such markets raise integrity concerns that are similar to those associated with sports betting,” Dan Spillane, the NBA’s executive vice president and assistant general counsel, wrote in the response.
“lt is the NBA’s view that sports prediction markets should be subject to robust and comprehensive regulations that are specifically designed to protect the integrity of sports leagues and their competitions.”
As prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have exploded in popularity across the U.S. since sports contracts began being offered in early 2025, the CFTC has vowed to implement more regulation. As part of its process, the agency asked sports stakeholders for input.
Age limit change
The NBA, while steering clear of calling prediction markets sports betting and the legality of it all, made it clear that it wants many of the same protections offered by state-regulated sportsbooks.
The league called for the CFTC to raise the age limit for sports contract purchasing from 18 to 21.
“Like sports betting, trading in sports prediction contracts carries material risks (e.g., of financial loss) that may be particularly acute for younger individuals,” Spillane wrote.
Player props
The NBA also asked for more input on allowable markets and for the CFTC to ban player props “in the near term” to develop restrictions to “mitigate integrity risks.”
The leagues called for contract limits on certain types of statistics and props that could be easily manipulated by a single participant.
The league wants market prohibitions on officiating, injuries, league disciplinary actions, player or team transactions, and fan actions, as well as NBA G League games.
Other restrictions
Just like with sportsbooks, the NBA would like to see prediction market platforms report suspicious and prohibited trading to the league and cooperate with integrity-related investigations. The NBA also wants to see individuals associated with the league blocked from trading on those platforms.
In other prediction market news, U.S. lawmakers have introduced a bill that would ban the President, members of Congress, and other public officials from using inside information to trade.
“There are a number of integrity elements that the NBA believes should be integrated into the sports prediction market ecosystem,” Spillane said.
“The implementation of these requirements may require additional resources. To the extent possible, we encourage the Commission to develop and devote dedicated resources to the oversight of this class of contracts.”
Protect consumers
MLB recently partnered with Polymarket and signed an unprecedented memorandum with the CFTC, giving the pro baseball league a seat at the table. The NBA has yet to formalize such an agreement with the federal agency, and it has not formed any marketing alliances with prediction market platforms.
In its letter to the CFTC on Thursday, MLB echoed several of the NBA’s responses, including the implementation of responsible trading guidelines and consumer protections.
“MLB will continue to engage with the CFTC and other stakeholders in this space as necessary to protect the integrity of sports-related prediction markets and the actual events that underlie those markets,” MLB senior vice president and head counsel Quest Meeks said. “We were pleased to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commission last month to establish the foundation for collaboration and advance our shared goals.”
Anti-corruption
Tennis is a sport that has repeatedly battled corruption and match-fixing over the last several years, so the ATP voiced its concerns with prediction markets in a response letter. Men’s tennis’ governing body called for a federal framework that is similar to state-level regulation.
“From ATP’s perspective, prediction markets allow customers to stake money on the outcomes of sporting events in a manner that closely resembles state-regulated sports betting and raise similar integrity and consumer protection concerns,” said Mark Young, chief legal and administrative officer for the ATP. “Like state-regulated sports betting, prediction markets create incentives for individuals to manipulate sporting events and exploit non-public information, and both present risks of consumer harm.”
Concerned operator
Concerned stakeholders went beyond just sports leagues. FanDuel, the U.S.’s sports betting and iGaming market share leader, also operates a prediction market platform. In its letter to the CFTC, FanDuel said the growth of prediction contracts “heightens the importance of fit-for-purpose, clear regulation to ensure that these markets continue to develop in a manner that promotes market integrity, consumer protection and sustainable industry growth.”
FanDuel called for information sharing and surveillance, prevention of insider trading, consumer protection standards, trading safeguards and risk controls, and advertising and promotional practices.
“We support the Commission’s focus on gathering information from market participants as it considers new rules to govern these platforms and promote ‘responsible innovation’ in U.S. derivatives markets,” Senior Vice President, Public Policy & Sustainability Cory Fox said. “In our view, new rules that appropriately balance prediction markets’ unique innovations against the risks they present, both to derivatives markets and to the events they reference, are the correct next step in the advancement of the Commission’s approach to regulating these markets.”
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