The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the National Hockey League have entered into a data-sharing agreement aimed at monitoring and regulating betting activity on prediction markets. The deal, which was finalized this week, allows the federal regulator and the league to exchange information on trading patterns, user behavior, and market anomalies that could signal manipulation or illegal wagering.
What the agreement covers
Under the arrangement, the CFTC will receive data from the NHL on betting volumes, contract pricing, and participant activity tied to hockey-related prediction markets. In return, the league gets access to regulatory alerts and market surveillance tools that the CFTC uses to spot suspicious trades. The focus is on contracts that let people bet on game outcomes, player stats, or other real-time events — not traditional sportsbook wagers.
Both sides said the collaboration is meant to catch manipulation before it affects the integrity of the games or the markets. The CFTC has jurisdiction over derivatives and certain event contracts, and the NHL wants to keep its brand clear of scandal.
Why prediction markets drew attention
Prediction markets have grown fast in the U.S., especially after the 2023 launch of sports-event contracts on platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. Regulators have struggled to keep up. The CFTC previously warned that some contracts resembled gambling and fell outside its oversight. The NHL, like other leagues, has seen an uptick in prop-bet style contracts tied to its games.
By pooling data, the CFTC and NHL can spot patterns that neither could see alone — for instance, a sudden spike in bets on a specific player injury or a flurry of trades on a game outcome from accounts linked to team insiders.
A possible model for other leagues
This is the first formal data-sharing agreement between a U.S. sports league and a financial regulator for prediction markets. The deal could set a precedent. The NFL, NBA, and MLB have each pushed for tighter controls on gambling but have not yet signed similar pacts with federal agencies. The CFTC said it is open to talks with other leagues, though no further agreements have been announced.
The NHL's head of business development noted that the league wanted a direct line to regulators rather than relying on platform-level reporting. The CFTC, for its part, gains a richer dataset to test its enforcement models.
For now, the agreement covers only NHL-related contracts. But the data pipeline and legal framework are built to expand. The CFTC has not said whether it will share information with state gambling regulators, who also oversee sports betting. That remains an open question.
