NFL Urges Supreme Court to Treat Sports Prediction Contracts as Gambling

The NFL on Oct. 8 filed an amicus brief urging the U. S.

Supreme Court to take up New Jersey’s challenge to Kalshi’s sports-event contracts, arguing that the products are sports gambling rather than federally regulated swaps. The league said the contracts should remain subject to state oversight, adding a major professional sports voice to a dispute over the regulatory treatment of prediction markets. The intervention comes as NFL-related trading has become a substantial part of prediction-market activity.

The league said its events accounted for about $1. 8 billion of the $3. 3 billion traded across prediction markets on the first Sunday of the 2026 NFL season, according to CBS News.

NFL asks court to hear Kalshi case The filing supports New Jersey’s effort to obtain Supreme Court review of its case against KalshiEX, LLC. The docket lists the matter as Flaherty v. KalshiEX, LLC, No.

26-299. New Jersey filed its petition for certiorari on Sept. 2, and responses were due Oct.

8, according to the Supreme Court docket. The NFL’s brief asks the court to treat the sports contracts as wagers governed by state gambling rules, rather than financial products under federal oversight. The court has not yet indicated whether it will hear the case.

In its Oct. 8 filing, the league argued that the classification question has consequences for who sets the rules around contracts tied to sporting events. The NFL’s position is that federal treatment as swaps should not displace state authority over sports wagering, as reported by the Associated Press.

Contracts cover in-game events The NFL said sports-related prediction contracts expose ordinary consumers to gambling risks. Its objection is not limited to contracts tied to a game’s final result: the league said the products can cover player injuries, officiating decisions and other events occurring during a game. That range of markets, the NFL argued, places the products in the realm of sports betting rather than investing.

The league’s position was reported by The Washington Post. NFL volume raises stakes The $1. 8 billion figure means NFL-linked contracts made up more than half of the $3.

3 billion in prediction-market trading reported for the season’s first Sunday. The concentration underscores why the litigation matters to the league: any Supreme Court decision on New Jersey’s petition could affect the regulatory framework applied to a large share of sports-focused prediction activity. For now, the immediate procedural question is whether the justices will grant New Jersey’s petition in Flaherty v.

KalshiEX. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.