NFL amicus remains the lead legal item

The NFL has backed New Jersey’s cert petition in Flaherty v. KalshiEX, adding its voice to a dispute over whether federal commodities law displaces state gambling rules. According to Fox News, the league filed an amicus brief on Thursday arguing that sports prediction markets constitute gambling and should be subject to state oversight.

A dispute over jurisdiction and integrity

New Jersey is challenging a federal appeals court ruling that favored Kalshi’s interpretation of federal commodities law, Fox News reported. The NFL urged prompt court action, warning that billions of dollars would be wagered on its games through prediction markets each season and that delays could increase risks to consumers and game integrity.

The league’s concerns extend to specific contracts. Before the season began, it told operators it objected to markets involving coaching decisions, officiating decisions and injuries, as well as other outcomes potentially influenced by inside information. According to Fox News, the NFL criticized the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for failing to address contracts it had identified months earlier that operators including Kalshi continued to list.

An NFL source told Fox News that billions of dollars in NFL wagers had already been placed on prediction markets this season. The source framed the dispute as a question of regulatory safeguards rather than opposition to prediction markets themselves, while questioning whether the CFTC had sufficient staffing and resources. Fox News also noted an eligibility difference: prediction markets are available to people 18 and older, compared with 21 and older for online sportsbooks.

Federal regulator and platforms push back

CFTC public affairs director Brooke Nethercott told Fox News Digital that the agency had engaged with the NFL on policy and rulemaking, but that the league declined to sign a memorandum of understanding intended to support cooperation and information sharing. Although the NFL has official online sportsbook deals and has not partnered with prediction markets, an unnamed CFTC source said senior league staff had indicated just weeks earlier that commercial agreements with several operators were close.

Kalshi disputed the NFL’s account of federal oversight, saying the CFTC actively supervises sports-related markets and that ongoing rulemaking addresses many of the league’s concerns. It also cited partnerships with MLB, NHL and USTA. Separately, Polymarket told Fox News it uses market surveillance tools and is working with the CFTC, SEC and other professional leagues, arguing that a coordinated federal framework offers more consistent integrity protections than separate state regimes.

What it means for prediction markets

• Jurisdiction remains the central issue. New Jersey’s challenge concerns whether federal commodities law overrides state gambling regulation; the NFL’s brief supports the state’s effort to obtain further review.
• Contract design is part of the dispute. The league’s objections target markets involving injuries, coaching and officiating, not just wagers on game results.
• Cooperation remains contested. The NFL questions federal safeguards and resources, while the CFTC and operators point to engagement, rulemaking and integrity partnerships.
• The filing is advocacy, not a ruling. It adds the NFL’s arguments to the case but does not itself resolve which regulatory framework governs sports prediction markets.