The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has struck a deal with the National Hockey League to put safeguards around prediction markets tied to NHL events. The agreement, announced this week, follows a similar arrangement the agency reached with Major League Baseball, signaling a regulatory push to oversee how sports-based event contracts are offered and traded.
What the agreement covers
Neither the CFTC nor the NHL has released the full terms, but the deal is described as a framework for ensuring market integrity and consumer protection in prediction contracts related to hockey. The agency has long held that event contracts — wagers on outcomes like game scores or player stats — fall under its jurisdiction as derivatives. The NHL pact mirrors the structure of the MLB agreement, which was finalized earlier this year and covered similar ground on listing standards, disclosure, and anti-manipulation measures.
Why the CFTC is building these deals
Prediction markets have grown rapidly, with platforms like Kalshi, PredictIt, and others offering contracts on everything from election results to sports. The CFTC has been trying to bring clarity to a space where regulatory lines were often blurry. By striking separate agreements with major sports leagues, the agency is essentially setting industry-wide guardrails without writing new rules from scratch. Each deal forces platforms that want to list sports event contracts to follow a standardized set of conditions — from how they source data to how they handle disputes.
For users of prediction market platforms, the NHL and MLB agreements don’t change day-to-day trading immediately, but they do lay down a stricter baseline. Platforms will have to comply with the safeguards to offer contracts on those leagues’ events. The CFTC has the authority to approve or reject contract listings, and the new frameworks give the agency a clearer checklist. For the leagues, the deals offer a way to ensure their brand and game integrity are protected without getting directly involved in regulating every trade.
The NHL and MLB are the first two leagues to sign such pacts. Other professional sports organizations are watching closely. The CFTC has not said whether it is in talks with the NBA, NFL, or any other league, but the pattern suggests those conversations may be underway.
What comes next
The CFTC will now begin reviewing event contract filings from platforms that want to offer NHL-related products. The first approvals under the new safeguards could come within months. Whether other leagues follow the NHL and MLB path — or push for different terms — is an open question. The agency’s next move in the prediction market space is likely to set the tone for the rest of the industry.
