Acting CFTC chair Caroline D. Pham announced a planned roundtable to gather views on the regulator’s approach to prediction markets, including sports-related event contracts. It will follow a 45-day review of sports-event contracts offered by several companies, including Robinhood and Crypto.com.
The review and roundtable may shape the CFTC’s approach to sports-related event contracts and their providers.
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The CFTC published a proposed rule for prediction markets in the United States and opened a 45-day public consultation, according to the report. The proposal would not prohibit sports-event contracts but identifies markets including athlete injuries, officiating decisions and youth or school sports as potentially contrary to the public interest. Kalshi and Polymarket are among the platforms operating in the sector.
The CFTC opened a public comment period on prediction-market regulation after publishing an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The public has 45 days from its Federal Register publication to submit written comments, including on event contracts that may be contrary to the public interest.
Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Mike Dreitzer said on a podcast that prediction market operators such as Kalshi are running illegal sportsbooks, and that Nevada has no fallback plan if the Supreme Court sides with them. He urged tribes and licensees to hold firm, even though several tribes have partnered with Kalshi this month. The comments followed a CFTC interim rule of 9 October excluding casino-style gambling products from the definition of a swap, alongside a proposed rule covering event contracts.
CFTC chair Michael Selig proposed new prediction market rules at the agency’s first Innovation Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday. Selig also defended federal oversight against challenges concerning legality and self-certification limits.
CFTC chair Michael Selig criticised New York Attorney General Letitia James over the dispute about prediction markets, in remarks at a White House meeting on 20 August. James has alleged that Kalshi breached New York sports-betting age rules by allowing people aged 18 to 20 to trade sports-related contracts; Selig said the CFTC had used emergency powers to block a state temporary restraining order.