NFL Urges Supreme Court to Rein In Kalshi, Calling Prediction Markets Unregulated Sportsbooks

The NFL has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to protect states' authority to regulate sports gambling, arguing that prediction markets such as Kalshi are effectively sportsbooks operating under the guise of federally regulated financial exchanges. In an amicus brief filed Thursday in support of New Jersey regulators, the league argued that sports prediction contracts should be subject to state gambling laws rather than overseen exclusively by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The outcome could determine whether prediction markets can keep offering sports wagers nationwide, including in states where traditional sports betting is prohibited. The league pointed to the industry's enormous scale: football accounted for $1.8 billion in prediction-market trading on the first Sunday of the season, more than half of all volume that day, according to CNBC. The NFL warned that certain contracts threaten the integrity of professional sports — particularly wagers on outcomes individual players could deliberately influence, such as missed field goals or fumbles — and raised concerns about bets tied to injuries, officiating decisions and information insiders might know first. The league also noted that neither the CFTC nor the prediction-market companies have banned manipulation-prone bet categories or imposed a 21-year age limit, while Kalshi allows customers as young as 18. The legal battle centers on whether the federal Commodity Exchange Act overrides states' traditional gambling authority, with conflicting appeals rulings in Nevada and New Jersey setting up the high-court showdown.