NHL Joins MLB In Formalizing Rules Around Sports Prediction Markets; NBA Could Be Next

May 21st, 2026 11:04 AM EDT

Major-league pro sports took another major step into the prediction-market era Thursday, as the NHL signed a Memorandum of Understanding with federal regulators that formalizes cooperation on integrity monitoring and other issues tied to sports prediction market contracts

The sports prediction markets agreement between the NHL and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission may be non-binding, but its significance stretches well beyond hockey in terms of pro sports and prediction markets.

The move positions the NHL alongside Major League Baseball, in codifying a framework for how sports prediction markets and major-professional leagues - and perhaps eventually the NCAA - can coexist. It also offers perhaps the clearest sign yet that America’s biggest leagues are preparing for prediction markets to become a permanent fixture of the sports ecosystem — whether traditional sportsbooks, state regulators and native tribes like it or not.

MLB and the CFTC reached their own Memorandum of Understanding in March. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and his MLS counterpart Don Garber both told Bookies.com in April that their leagues are also in talks with the CFTC.

“I’m proud the CFTC and NHL have officially signed an MOU, furthering the agency’s commitment to improve data sharing between professional sports leagues and the Commission,” CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said Thursday in a statement announcing the agreement.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman framed the deal - first reported by Politico - as an extension of the league’s existing integrity protections.

“Integrity has always been and remains paramount to the NHL,” Bettman said in a statement. “This MOU reflects a shared commitment to transparency, oversight and protecting the integrity of the game.”

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Under the agreement, the NHL and CFTC will coordinate on information-sharing tied to event contracts listed on federally regulated exchanges. Both sides designated representatives who will communicate regularly regarding integrity concerns, suspicious activity, fraud prevention and market oversight.

The NHL also noted it has already implemented “layered protections” with its prediction-market partners to monitor trading activity.

That language matters.

For months, the major U.S. sports leagues largely approached prediction markets cautiously, even as companies such as Kalshi and Polymarket aggressively expanded sports offerings. But the tone has shifted dramatically in recent weeks.

Rather than openly opposing the markets, leagues increasingly appear focused on shaping the rules around them.

NHL Confirmed Discussions With CFTC Last Month

The NHL’s agreement follows comments made in April when Bettman told Bookies.com that the league had opened discussions with the CFTC regarding guidelines governing sports-event contracts. He was speaking in a response to a question from Bookies.com during the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) Commissioners Meetings in April. Bettman also acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding the federal government’s role in policing rapidly expanding prediction markets.

"If there was going to be prediction contracts, we wanted them based on your back for the benefit of our fans. But secondly, and most importantly, we have the ability to knock out any prediction contracts we don't think are appropriate, which gives us more control," Bettman said. "And we are monitoring that market in real-time. So that in the event an contract is the one that we don't think is appropriate, we can envision the reasons we might not think it was appropriate. We can make them take it out."

Bettman said the league has yet to remove any NHL markets offered by Kalshi or Polymarket.

"It's really the prop betting where this comes up, whether it's sports betting or the prediction market. And our game isn't as susceptible as the other games. So in terms of being comfortable, in terms of the integrity of the game and our people, I have complete confidence in our players and our office personnel. But more than that, the game doesn't lend itself to some of the issues."

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NBA In Talks With Federal Regulators For Similar Deal

The CFTC remains relatively small compared to the massive markets it now oversees, including weather, politics, economics, entertainment and increasingly sports. Yet despite those questions, leagues now appear more interested in cooperation than confrontation.

The NBA appears to be heading down the same path. Its discussions with the CFTC could eventually support partnerships with Kalshi and/or Polymarket.

"I'm encouraged by what we're hearing from the CFTC, as the way they're looking at it. I think they want to get it right. They want to hear directly from the leagues about their concerns. So we've engaged directly with the CFTC right now," Silver said in a response to a question from Bookies.com during the same APSE meetings in April. He added any final product would resemble the "memorandum" between Major League Baseball and the CFTC reached in March.

Those comments represent a notable evolution for leagues that once treated prediction markets more as a legal threat than a commercial opportunity.

Now, the conversation has shifted toward data-sharing, surveillance systems and integrity frameworks — essentially the same infrastructure that legalized sportsbooks adopted following the fall of PASPA in 2018.

That is why Thursday’s NHL announcement may ultimately prove more important than the non-binding language suggests.

Major Line Now Crossed With Prediction Markets

MOUs do not create law. They do not grant formal regulatory authority. And they certainly do not settle the ongoing legal wars between prediction-market operators and multiple states challenging sports-event contracts.

But they do establish precedent.

And increasingly, that precedent suggests the major leagues believe prediction markets are here to stay.

With MLB already reaching a similar arrangement, the NHL now formally onboard, and the NBA openly discussing its own framework, along with the NFL, the trajectory is becoming clearer: Eventually, nearly every major professional sports league may end up operating under some version of a cooperative integrity agreement with federal regulators and prediction-market operators.

The leagues may not fully control prediction markets.

But they clearly want a seat at the table before the market fully controls itself.

NHL Joins MLB In Formalizing Rules Around Sports Prediction Markets; NBA Could Be Next

Data-Sharing, Integrity Cited As Top Concerns

NHL Confirmed Discussions With CFTC Last Month

NBA In Talks With Federal Regulators For Similar Deal

Major Line Now Crossed With Prediction Markets

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