CFTC Signs NHL Data-Sharing Deal as Senate Hearing Turns Up Heat on Prediction Markets

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The CFTC has signed an information-sharing agreement with the National Hockey League covering prediction market betting tied to NHL games. The deal follows a similar arrangement with Major League Baseball and arrives one day after a Senate hearing put the prediction markets industry under sustained bipartisan criticism.

NHL Agrees to Coordinate Oversight With the CFTC

The NHL, which last year partnered with both Kalshi and Polymarket as its official prediction market platforms, will share information with the CFTC on event contracts tied to its games. Chairman Mike Selig said last week that the agency is in talks with every major professional sports league to establish similar arrangements.

“This agreement is another step toward safeguarding the integrity of sports and protecting market participants in prediction markets from insider trading, fraud, and other abuses,” Selig said.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman framed the agreement as a strengthening of existing systems.

“Integrity has always been and remains paramount to the NHL and fundamental to the trust our fans and partners place in our game,” Bettman said. “Our agreement with the CFTC enhances the comprehensive integrity monitoring systems already in place and strengthens our ability to identify, deter, and address potential risks.”

Senate Hearing Focused on Match-Fixing Risk and Youth Marketing

The agreement arrived against the backdrop of Wednesday’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing, where platforms including Kalshi and Crypto.com faced sustained criticism. Committee Chairman Ted Cruz said prediction market betting has enabled cheating that “sow[s] doubt in the minds of fans.”

Cruz listed recent cases across multiple leagues.

 “NBA players and coaches are accused of manipulating performance and providing insider information to win bets. Two major league baseball pitchers allegedly rigged their own pitches in exchange for money. MLS banned two players for intentionally getting yellow cards to win bets, and the UFC has canceled matches and terminated contracts because of suspected match fixing,” Cruz said.

Senator John Hickenlooper accused prediction market firms of unleashing the “hounds of hell” through social media marketing that targets young people. Harry Levant, director of gambling policy at the Public Health Advocacy Institute and a recovering gambling addict, testified that the industry produces an “avalanche of unregulated advertising” for what he called “a known addictive product.”

The CFTC’s Authority Remains Contested

The hearing also surfaced the ongoing jurisdictional fight over who should regulate prediction markets. Bill Miller, president and CEO of the American Gaming Association, told the committee that federal regulators “are absolutely not competent to handle this” and that “it was never Congress’s intent to create a federal department of gambling through the CFTC.”

Patrick McHenry, the former House member who now advises the Coalition for Prediction Markets representing Kalshi, Crypto.com, Robinhood, and Coinbase, pushed back. He argued that event contracts are derivatives that belong to “fundamentally different business models” from casino gambling and compared them to long-regulated grain futures contracts.

When McHenry said the CFTC has the capacity to oversee the market, Hickenlooper responded:

“You’re the first person who’s told me you think that they think the CFTC is up to the standards.”

“The Supreme Court may have to decide the issue”, Cruz concluded.

CFTC Sues Minnesota to Block Felony Ban on Prediction Markets

The CFTC filed suit against Minnesota on Tuesday to block a new state law that would have classified prediction market activity as a felony.

“This Minnesota law turns lawful operators and participants in prediction markets into felons overnight,” Selig said.

Minnesota joins Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, and Wisconsin on the list of states the CFTC has sued in its campaign to establish federal preemption over prediction markets. Selig, who is currently the sole sitting member of a commission designed to have five, has led the legal campaign while simultaneously pursuing a formal CFTC rule to set tailored standards for the sector.