NCAA pressures CFTC to suspend college sports prediction markets, directly pointing out risks of contracts like Polymarket

January 15 News, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has officially sent a letter to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), urging it to suspend prediction markets related to college sports. NCAA believes that these prediction markets operate in a manner highly similar to traditional sports betting but do not adhere to the compliance and protection standards required for licensed sports betting, potentially posing systemic risks to student athletes, general participants, and the fairness of competitions.

In the letter, NCAA pointed out that until a more comprehensive and well-protected institutional framework is established, relevant college sports prediction markets should not continue to operate. The organization emphasized that although these prediction markets operate under the Federal Commodity Exchange Act rather than state gambling laws, their contract content covers elements such as game outcomes, point spreads, and total scores, which are functionally almost indistinguishable from sports betting.

Data from Polymarket Analytics shows that on the decentralized prediction platform Polymarket, contracts related to college sports have a total trading volume of approximately $320 million. NCAA believes that the differences in legal application have allowed some operators to bypass typical restrictions associated with sports betting, such as age limits, advertising regulations, and integrity review mechanisms.

NCAA is particularly concerned about the participation of 18-year-olds, believing this could directly attract current college students, including athletes themselves. The letter also warns that packaging such products as “financial transactions” could mislead users, as the outcomes of sports events are inherently highly uncertain, fundamentally different from traditional financial markets.

Additionally, NCAA expressed strong concerns about markets related to individual athlete behaviors, including contracts involving transfer decisions. The organization pointed out that such markets could induce coercion, harassment, or manipulation targeting student athletes, posing a “catastrophic” threat to the entire college sports ecosystem.

Therefore, NCAA calls on the CFTC to promote stricter integrity regulation measures, including restrictions on participants’ geographic locations, information sharing among operators, limitations on prop contracts, and direct involvement of national sports governing bodies in the market design and regulatory process.