NFL Asks Supreme Court to Settle Whether States or Washington Regulate Prediction Markets
The league wants a ruling before the season ends in January, saying delay brings consumer harm and risks to game integrity as at least 10 states fight the platforms.
The National Football League is urging the Supreme Court to decide whether the federal government or the states should have the legal authority to set the rules for prediction markets, a fight that has split federal appeals courts and drawn lawsuits from states across the country.
In a brief filed in a case involving the New Jersey attorney general's office, the NFL backed earlier rulings in favor of state regulation. Those decisions, from the Sixth and Ninth Circuits, "correctly concluded" that sports-related event contracts are not "swaps" but amount to "sports gambling," the league wrote. The NFL filed its brief the day after a bipartisan coalition of states made a similar request to the justices, asking them to resolve the dispute.
The league asked the high court to act before the professional football season ends in January. Any delay, the NFL wrote, will "result in increasing consumer harm and risk to game integrity."
Prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency that oversees derivatives markets. At least 10 states have taken legal action against prediction market platforms, arguing that the sports contracts they offer are gambling and fall under state law. The companies argue that federal oversight of the contracts they list pre-empts state gambling rules.
An NFL source told CBS News the league has asked the CFTC and the prediction markets to adopt safeguards around gambling and insider trading. According to the source, neither the agency nor industry players have banned bets that are vulnerable to manipulation or raised the minimum betting age to 21 from the current 18. The league also said it is unclear whether the CFTC has the resources or staff to regulate sports betting, a concern others have raised as well.
Kalshi pushed back. "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," a company spokesperson said in an email, adding that the agency's ongoing rulemaking addresses many of the league's concerns and that its priority is the integrity of its markets. A Polymarket spokesperson said the company has built advanced market surveillance tools and is working with the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission on a regulatory framework it believes would be stronger than state laws.
The legal question carries large financial stakes. Sports contracts have become a major source of trading volume for the platforms, and state attorneys general and gaming regulators say they threaten the licensing and tax systems built around sportsbooks. Whether the Supreme Court agrees to hear the dispute, and how quickly, will decide who writes the rules for the fastest-growing corner of legal betting in the country.
