Utah faces a new federal challenge despite its earlier victory over Kalshi, while the NBA becomes the latest major sports league to strike prediction market deals.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued Utah on Monday, seeking to block the state’s crackdown on federally regulated prediction markets. On the same day, the regulator signed an integrity agreement with the NBA, which also announced commercial partnerships with Kalshi, Polymarket, and DraftKings.
The lawsuit comes just six days after Utah sued Kalshi and two Susquehanna market maker firms seeking to shut down their operations and recover up to $61.2 million in alleged illegal gambling proceeds.
The NBA announcement leaves the NFL as the only major U.S. sports league that has held out from a prediction-market partnership. Previously, the MLB, NHL, and MLS had signed various agreements with operators or the federal regulator.
Elsewhere, Polymarket halted sports event contracts in Michigan, tribal organizations expanded their coordinated effort against prediction markets, and another person in the NCAA point-shaving scandal pleaded guilty.
The Big Story: CFTC Sues Utah to Block Prediction Market Enforcement
The CFTC and the U.S. Department of Justice sued Utah and Attorney General Derek Brown, seeking to prevent the state from applying its gambling laws to federally regulated prediction market exchanges.
The 33-page complaint repeats the regulator’s familiar argument that event contracts are federally regulated swaps and that federal law preempts state gambling laws. However, the CFTC warns that Utah’s enforcement action “threatens to wipe out the operation of CFTC-regulated exchanges within the State.”
The CFTC argues that allowing states to regulate event contracts would leave exchanges facing “the prospect of 50 regulators across the country.” It also claims that forcing exchanges to exclude Utah residents would violate federal requirements for impartial market access.
The CFTC is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions.
Utah becomes the 10th state in which the CFTC has pursued legal action challenging state enforcement against prediction markets. The regulator has secured favorable preliminary injunctions in Arizona, Minnesota and Illinois. It also suffered a setback in Wisconsin, where a federal judge found that the CFTC failed to show a likelihood of success.
Utah has also already secured a significant victory. In August, federal Judge Robert Shelby ruled that the Commodity Exchange Act does not preempt Utah’s gambling laws, delivering the first final merits judgment against Kalshi in the state-level litigation. Kalshi has appealed the ruling in the Tenth Circuit, which denied its request for an emergency injunction.
The Daily Wire
NBA Partners With Kalshi, Polymarket and CFTC, Expands DraftKings Deal
The NBA has announced a series of agreements with Kalshi, Polymarket, DraftKings, and the CFTC. The league has framed the deals as a measure to protect game integrity.
The league named Kalshi and Polymarket its Preferred Prediction Market Exchanges, giving them access to NBA intellectual property, marketing opportunities, and official league data through Sportradar.
Both exchanges will implement “significant integrity protections” for NBA-related markets. These include limits on permissible markets, prohibitions on league and team personnel trading NBA event contracts, and information-sharing obligations related to investigations and suspicious trading.
The NBA also expanded its longstanding marketing relationship with DraftKings to include prediction markets, naming it an Authorized Prediction Market Operator. Separately, the league signed a memorandum of understanding with the CFTC, establishing regular consultations and information-sharing procedures concerning basketball-related prediction markets.
However, the five-page agreement is nonbinding and does not require either party to share information, leaving disclosures at their discretion.
The announcements follow months of NBA appeals for stricter prediction market regulation, including raising the trading age to 21, strengthening identity verification, restricting contracts vulnerable to manipulation, and calling for access to prediction market trading data.
While the partnerships address some of those concerns, they do not establish a minimum trading age of 21 or mandatory information sharing with the CFTC.
Polymarket Halts New Sports Trades in Michigan
Polymarket has become the latest prediction market operator to halt sports event contracts in Michigan.
In a notice to customers, Polymarket US said that, effective Oct. 26, users located in Michigan or verified with a Michigan address can no longer open new sports positions. Users can still close existing positions, while non-sports markets, deposits, and withdrawals remain unaffected.
— Chelsea (@ChelsElaina) October 26, 2026
Polymarket is shutting down new sports trades in Michigan starting today pic.twitter.com/FpHm7d9x5X
Polymarket is the fourth operator to stop offering sports event contracts in the state, following Coinbase, Robinhood and Kalshi. In June, a federal judge denied Polymarket’s request for a preliminary injunction, finding that its sports event contracts are likely not swaps and that the company was unlikely to succeed in its challenge to Michigan’s gambling regulations.
Nasdaq Applies for CFTC License to Offer Inflation Prediction Markets
Nasdaq has applied to operate a designated contract market (DCM) according to CFTC filings. The application, filed Oct. 26 under Nasdaq MRX Futures, LLC, includes plans to initially offer two types of binary event contracts tied to U.S. inflation data.
Under the proposal, traders could bet on whether U.S. inflation will rise above certain levels, based on headline and core Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures. Trading outcomes would be determined monthly using official government inflation data, with the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) handling clearing.
The move follows the SEC’s April approval of Nasdaq’s plans to offer binary options tied to the Nasdaq-100 index.
Tribal Organizations Expand Coordinated Opposition to Prediction Markets
The Indian Gaming Association (IGA) and National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) are strengthening their joint task force to “confront illegal online gambling through prediction markets.”
At an Oct. 23 meeting during the NCAI national convention in Palm Springs, California, participants discussed coordinated advocacy, litigation support, research, and public education.
“Our responsibility is to protect the right of Tribal Nations to govern our lands, regulate gaming, and build a future for our people,” said IGA Chairman David Z. Bean.
The effort follows a significant Ninth Circuit victory in September, when the panel ruled in favor of two California tribes against Kalshi. Tribal leaders have also pressed Congress to protect IGRA and Tribal-state gaming compacts, arguing that prediction markets bypass existing gambling regulations.
The task force, reactivated in 2023, adopted a formal description of its responsibilities and plans to set annual priorities, hold regular meetings, and coordinate more closely on litigation and federal policy.
NCPG Appoints Interim Leader Amid Scrutiny Over Kalshi Partnership
The National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) has appointed Charles H. Jeffers II as interim executive director after recent leadership departures and scrutiny of its $2 million partnership with Kalshi.
Jeffers, who has more than 30 years of nonprofit leadership experience, will focus on organizational operations, transparency, and governance during the transition.
The appointment follows former Executive Director Heather Maurer’s September resignation amid controversy over the Kalshi agreement. The deal led regulators in Michigan and Ohio to withdraw financial support, while problem gambling organizations in Nevada and Washington ended their affiliations.
NCPG plans to begin searching for a permanent executive director in January 2027, with Vetted Solutions leading the recruitment process.
Another NCAA Point-Shaving Fixer Pleads Guilty
Roderick Winkler of Arkansas has pleaded guilty on Monday to bribery in sporting contests, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and wire fraud for his role in a widespread college basketball point-shaving scheme. Winkler faces up to 45 years in prison, with sentencing scheduled for Feb. 8, 2027.
Prosecutors say Winkler helped recruit and pay NCAA players between 2023 and 2025, offering $10,000 to $30,000 per game to deliberately underperform and help their teams fail to cover the spread.
Winkler’s guilty plea is the latest development involving the case. Earlier this month, Jalen Smith was sentenced to six years in prison for his role in the operation. Days later, Shane Hennen also pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme and to a separate NBA insider-betting and money-laundering conspiracy.
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