NFL Wants Supreme Court To Blow Whistle On Kalshi

The NFL urged the Supreme Court to protect states’ authority to regulate sports gambling Thursday, arguing that prediction markets such as Kalshi are effectively sportsbooks operating under the guise of federally regulated financial exchanges.

In an amicus brief supporting New Jersey regulators, the league argued that sports prediction contracts should be subject to state gambling laws rather than exclusively overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The dispute could determine whether prediction markets can continue offering sports wagers nationwide, including in states where traditional sports betting is prohibited.

The NFL pointed to the enormous scale of the emerging industry, saying football accounted for $1.8 billion in prediction market trading on the first Sunday of the season, more than half of all trading volume that day, according to CNBC.

The league warned that certain contracts could threaten the integrity of professional sports, particularly wagers tied to outcomes individual players could deliberately influence, such as missed field goals or fumbles.

The NFL also raised concerns about bets involving injuries, officiating decisions and information that players, coaches or other insiders could know before the public.

“Neither the CFTC nor the prediction market companies themselves— despite our persistent urging — have banned categories of bets susceptible to manipulation or set a 21 age limit,” the NFL told CNBC.

Traditional sportsbooks generally require customers to be at least 21, while Kalshi allows customers as young as 18.

The NFL also questioned whether federal regulators had sufficient resources to oversee the booming industry.

“In the end, we believe that given the current resource constraints of the CFTC, this is a job better left to the states,” the league told CNBC.