NFL Urges Regulator to Prohibit ‘Easily Manipulable’ Prediction Market Bets

(AsiaGameHub) –   The National Football League (NFL) has urged the commodities regulator to require prediction market providers to prohibit contracts on events that are “easily manipulable” by a single individual. Examples include first pass and field goal completion.

The league submitted its request in a letter to the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Michael Selig, as reported by CNBC.

Written by Brendon Plack, the NFL’s head of government affairs and public policy, the letter also calls for the regulator to raise the legal betting age from 18 to 21 and ban margin trading.

NFL’s Regulatory Requests

Sports event contracts that are “not fully collateralized” risk “exacerbating addictive behavior and increasing loss exposure,” according to Plack.

The league wants the CFTC to mandate that providers block contracts on events that are “knowable in advance.”

Examples of such events include the outcome of the first play of a game.

Plack also requested that Selig ban “inherently objectionable” contracts involving events like player injuries.

The NFL raised several concerns about potential match-fixing and insider trading. The league seeks a special certification process from the regulator for individual player performance-related prediction contracts.

Key Points of Contention

The NFL wants prediction markets to follow many of the standards, rules, and guidelines applied to traditional sports betting operations.

This stance may provoke disagreement with Selig, who has consistently maintained that prediction market platforms and sportsbooks are “two separate things.”

“What you’re seeing is markets versus entertainment… They are different models,” Selig told Axios earlier this month. “The conventional sportsbooks and casinos are entertainment,” he added.

Selig stated that the CFTC will regulate prediction markets “as financial markets, not as entertainment.”

Throughout the letter, Plack reportedly cited multiple references to state-level gambling regulations.

The mention of states could be contentious, as the CFTC is currently engaged in legal disputes with states that have tried to take control of regulating prediction markets.

While the issue involving states may be sensitive, the NFL and Selig may find common ground on concerns about insider trading.

Earlier this month, the CFTC announced it was consulting with “all professional sports leagues” on measures to prevent insider trading.

In his letter, Plack recommended that the National Futures Association—the U.S. derivatives regulator—establish data-sharing agreements with state gaming regulatory bodies.

This, said the NFL executive, could strengthen enforcement tools to restrict certain individuals from participating in prediction markets.

Such individuals should include NFL league employees, according to Plack.

The CFTC recently finalized a memorandum of understanding with MLB, aiming to identify suspicious trading activity on prediction market platforms.