Amid its playoff surge, the major professional hockey league agreed to coordinate oversight of betting on popular prediction markets with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, securing a new memorandum of understanding similar to the one recently signed with Major League Baseball.
The National Hockey League, which had officially linked up last year with Kalshi and Polymarket as official partners of the league’s prediction market, agreed to share information with the regulator about event contracts tied to its games, according to a Thursday statement from the agency. The CFTC has been pursuing similar agreements with all professional sports leagues, Chairman Mike Selig said at an event last week.
“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,” the NHL said of the agreement in a statement.
Selig has worked to foster the industry and defend his agency’s role as the sole regulator.
Prediction market betting has seen explosive growth in recent years and along with its popularity has come concerns that betting is being abused and cheating encouraged. At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing this week, lawmakers criticized the dark side of the industry. Bad actors, including the athletes themselves, threaten to “plant doubt in the minds of fans,” committee chairman Ted Cruz said.
“Integrity has always been and remains paramount to the NHL and fundamental to the trust our fans and partners place in our game,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement issued by the CFTC. “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.”
Under the new MOU, the league and regulator “shall endeavor to share information, upon request, regarding the integrity of professional hockey and the event contract markets related thereto or other matters deemed appropriate.”
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