NFL asks Supreme Court to review Kalshi sports market ruling

The NFL filed an amicus brief on October 8 urging the US Supreme Court to take up New Jersey's appeal against prediction market operator Kalshi. The league is challenging a Third Circuit ruling that classified Kalshi's sports event contracts as swaps under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, shielding them from state gambling laws.

The NFL sided with conflicting decisions from the Sixth and Ninth Circuits, arguing that the Dodd-Frank Act defines swaps as instruments that hedge existing risk rather than bets that create new risk. In the filing, represented by former US Attorney General William Barr, the league asked for a Supreme Court decision before the 2027 season.

According to the brief, NFL-related contracts represented $1.8 billion of the $3.3 billion traded across prediction markets on the first Sunday of the season. The league noted that Kalshi allows trading by 18-year-olds, while most states set the sports betting age at 21, and pointed out that the CFTC has only 543 employees nationwide to police these markets.

The league stated that Kalshi and the CFTC declined its requests to ban contracts on injuries, officiating, or outcomes that could be known in advance or manipulated by a single person. Former CFTC and SEC Chair Gary Gensler and former Senator Christopher Dodd also submitted briefs supporting New Jersey's position.