National Hockey League partners with CFTC on prediction market oversight agreement
Operating under the direction of Chair Michael Selig, the CFTC has asserted it holds "exclusive jurisdiction" over platforms facilitating prediction markets, announcing it would enter into a memorandum of understanding with the NHL for user protection purposes.
The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), operating exclusively under Republican leadership through Michael Selig, revealed a memorandum of understanding with the National Hockey League designed to "protect the integrity of professional hockey and maintain fair and transparent prediction markets."
Through a statement released on Thursday, Selig indicated the partnership aims to shield users of prediction markets from "insider trading, fraud, and other abuse" while the CFTC persists in asserting what the agency describes as its "exclusive jurisdiction" over operators such as Kalshi and Polymarket.
The regulatory body entered into a comparable partnership with Major League Baseball during March, coinciding with the baseball organization's announcement designating Polymarket as its Official Prediction Market Exchange.
Based on the CFTC's disclosure, the partnership with the NHL will enable both organizations to "share information and coordinate to protect the integrity of both professional hockey and related event contracts" available on various platforms. While the NHL's 2026-27 season is set to commence in September, both Kalshi and Polymarket were already offering event contracts for the Stanley Cup playoffs as of Thursday, which kicked off in April.
Throughout Selig's tenure, during which he continues serving as both the CFTC chair and its only active commissioner, the regulatory agency has consistently asserted exclusive authority to supervise and regulate prediction market platforms. Following the chair's directives, the CFTC has initiated legal proceedings against state-level authorities in Ohio, Connecticut, Illinois and New York concerning prediction markets, and most recently filed action in Minnesota regarding what the agency characterized as a US state's "first outright ban" targeting these platforms.
The CFTC's governing structure is designed to operate with a bipartisan commission comprising five members, yet Selig has continued functioning as the singular commissioner since December. Notwithstanding pressure from members of Congress, US President Donald Trump had made no public announcements regarding nominations for the vacant positions as of Thursday.
Polymarket filed to 'list combinatorial outcome contracts'
During Wednesday, the prediction markets operator submitted a product self-certification letter addressed to CFTC Secretary Christopher Kirkpatrick. As stated by the company, this filing would enable Polymarket to merge two or more underlying event contracts available on the platform.