The National Football League (NFL) has been a known critic of gambling. When sports gambling was first floated at the federal level, the NFL urged for an integrity fee payable to the big leagues in order to maintain the safety of the sport and keep it free of manipulation.
NFL Keeps Hounding CFTC to Step Up Safeguards Around Sports Event Contracts
Now, though, the league is changing tact, taking a more conciliatory tone with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the watchdog in charge of prediction markets.
The NFL has already offered its input as part of a long-winding process that saw the CFTC already introduce a 267-page Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which is also aimed at strengthening safeguards and protecting consumers.
The league is only one of many professional sporting bodies to have offered their input as part of the process, alongside the National Hockey League, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, and the National Basketball Association.
In the meantime, the league has sent a new message addressed to the CFTC Chairman Michael Selig on July 27, in which the SVP, NFL Public Policy and Government Affairs, Brendon Plack, said that the proposal so far contains some productive proposals, but further strengthening would need to be done to protect consumers and the game’s integrity.
“It is surprising that further common-sense integrity and consumer protection measures provided in the Prior League Comment Letter were not adopted,” Plack noted.
He further added: “These contracts include those which are easily manipulable by a single person, are inherently objectionable, depend on discretionary officiating choices, or which are known or knowable in advance of settlement.”
The biggest issue flagged by the NFL is the types of contracts that could be found out in advance, further making it harder on the league to protect its integrity.
Legal Age of Sports Trading and Knowable Markets the Issue
Another outstanding issue the NFL has with the current rule set is the age of participation. The NFL agrees that it should be raised to 21, to align with sports betting products, but prediction markets are coy.
They use the fact that their products are interpreted by the regulator as financial trading – open to younger demographics as well – and insist that this should be the case for event sports contracts.
The NFL and other leagues disagree because there are similarities between traditional sports betting and trading on sports event outcomes.