Major League Baseball, perhaps hedging its position regarding the eventuality of trading on its product becoming being a widespread part of prediction markets, asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to create an “integrity framework” similar to those in place with states that authorise legalised sports betting.
The Closing Line substack was first to report MLB sent a letter via email to the CFTC noting that the “limited MLB event contracts available today do not carry the same integrity risks as prop bets even single-game bets, but we expect that equivalent offerings will arrive soon.”
To that end, MLB wants that integrity framework for prediction markets in a manner consistent with how it supports “legal sports betting at the state level based on robust regulation and relationships in which sports leagues are viewed as partners and integrity of competition is considered paramount.”
Watching and waiting on Kalshi
MLB’s request of the CFTC comes at a time when Kalshi continues to propel the news cycle as one of the burgeoning prediction markets for sports betting exchanges. It is also in the cross hairs for state regulatory agencies where legalised sports betting is conducted and, in some ways, threatened.
Last month, Kalshi self-certified paperwork with the CFTC for the equivalent of outcomes on single games. That could loom large with the upcoming start of the NCAA basketball tournaments for both men and women. March Madness is a wildly popular sports betting event among casual sports fans in addition to regular bettors.
Last Wednesday, the Nevada Gaming Control Board issued a cease-and-desist order to Kalshi. It declared that “event-based contracts” on sporting events and election outcomes offered by the exchange are “unlawful in Nevada unless and until approved by the Nevada Gaming Commission”.
At the federal level, US Rep Dina Titus of Nevada sent CFTC acting chairwoman Caroline Pham a letter expressing concern last month. In it, she stated: “Event contracts on sporting events bring this relatively new industry directly into conflict with state-regulated gaming operators.”
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