NBA seeks prediction market data and control over sports contracts

The NBA is seeking prediction market data to help identify possible insider trading and safeguard its games, commissioner Adam Silver said. He also sought control of the market and questioned trading on outcomes such as a coach’s dismissal.

Silver said prediction markets pose many of the same concerns as sports betting, particularly where contracts involve sensitive information about teams, players and coaches. He favours federal regulation of prediction market platforms and agrees with a minimum trading age of 21. Silver said the NBA operates across roughly 40 regulatory jurisdictions and favours consistent national rules.

The NFL backed New Jersey regulators in an amicus brief filed with the US Supreme Court on 8 October. The league argued that sports prediction contracts should be governed by gambling laws, not federal financial-swap rules. It raised the risk of manipulation in contracts involving injuries and individual performance. It also warned that people with nonpublic information could profit through such trades. It sought a minimum trading age of 21, in line with the sports betting age in a number of US states.

Judges have reached different conclusions on whether state gambling laws apply to platforms such as Kalshi or federal commodities rules prevail. A September appeals court decision allowed states to regulate sports prediction markets. More recently, an Illinois ruling temporarily prevented the state from enforcing its gambling laws against event contracts offered by Kalshi and Coinbase.