NCAA President Charlie Baker Shares Prediction Market Concerns In Letter To CFTC

By Bill Speros

Mar 20th, 2026 3:06 PM EDT

(Imagn)

NCAA President Charlie Baker entered the portal on Friday. No, he's not transferring to the NFL. The portal Baker joined was the Commodities Futures Trading Corporation public comment portal concerning its recently published prediction market guidance.

The CFTC last week issued proposed guidelines for platforms like Kalshi, Robinhood, and eventually the likes of Polymarket and Novig. Those guidelines, in part, would regulate college sports-event contracts offered by platforms that fall under the CFTC's umbrella.

Ina letter posted in the portal Friday and dated March 17, Baker wrote that "temporary suspension of trading " on sports-related event contracts concerning NCAA events and athletes "would be prudent." He shared similar concerns in a previous letter to the CFTC two months ago.

This letter comes as the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments continue. The American Gaming Association estimates $3.3 billion will be legally wagered on both versions of March Madness at legal sports books in the U.S. That number does not include trading volume on prediction markets that operate in this country, such as Kalshi, FanDuel Predicts, DraftKings Predictions, and Fanatics Markets.

Baker Has Lengthy Wish List For CFTC

While Baker won't be getting his preferred halt in college trading anytime soon, he continues to make the push for reforms. Baker wrote to Kalshi last November in addition to the CFTC in January. Thursday, Bookies.com reported Baker would be submitting another letter to the CFTC's portal. Among the prediction market changes the NCAA President would like to see in his latest letter:

• Mandatory Monitoring and Timely Reporting Of Suspicious Trades & Insider Trading To NCAA And Other Agencies
• Geolocation of Trades And Sharing That Information With The NCAA And Other Agencies
• Mandatory Cooperation With The NCAA And Other Agencies In Their Investigations
• Robust Know-Your-Customer (KYC) Requirements
• Age Limit Raised To 21 On College Sports Trades
• Advertising and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) Restrictions .
• Prohibition on Player Prop Prediction Markets
• Consultation with National Governing Bodies
• Harm Reduction Resources
• Anti-Harassment Measures (Banning Those Who Harass Athletes From Prediction Markets)
• Standardized Prohibited Trading Provisions To Ban "Spoofing, Front-Running, Wash Trading, and Pre-Arranged Trading"
• Robust Enforcement and Consequences for Violations

Baker Seeks Uniform Standards For Player Integrity

Baker wrote that the current sport integrity monitoring being used by prediction markets is "highly nuanced and necessitates heightened levels of review that are presently absent from many prediction market platforms." He said the CFTC needs to create a uniform definition of prohibited traders that includes "student athletes, athletic personnel, and officiating staff like referees.

"Prediction markets should be obligated to actively monitor for prohibited traders
and report any such individuals to national governing bodies, like the NCAA, with
all accompanying data," he wrote.

NCAA Opposed To Prediction Markets From Day 1

Thursday, Major League Baseball reached announced a marketing deal with Polymarket and entered into a "Memorandum of Understanding" with the CFTC. MLB is the most popular pro sports league to tie the knot with prediction markets.

The NHL, UFC/TKO and MLS all have official prediction market ties. NASCAR told Bookies.com last month it was working toward a "data-sharing integrity" deal with several prediction markets. The NFL, NBA and NCAA remain publicly averse to prediction markets. That's mainly due to integrity concerns. There has been some public movement on the NFL front.

Ahead of March Madness, Baker threw shade at prediction markets as part of his on-going battle against college player props.

"They don't collect the data they're required to collect like a sports book," Baker told CBS. "They have a bunch of work to do in this space."

In response to the X post sharing Baker's comments, Kalshi News replied that "Kalshi has never offered a single college player prop. The implication that we do is complete misinformation. The claim that we do not collect user information is equally false. Kalshi is a financial exchange; we have extensive integrity, surveillance, and oversight measures."

On Friday, Nevada entered a long-sought temporary restraining order against Kalshi that bars the site from offering sports, political, and entertainment contracts in the state without the approval of state gaming regulators.

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