NBA, PGA Tour and NCAA ask CFTC to raise sports event contract age floor to 21
The NBA, PGA Tour and NCAA asked the CFTC to raise the minimum age for sports event contracts from 18 to 21 on prediction market platforms. The three leagues are pressing federal regulators for tighter age restrictions as event-contract offerings expand. Their lobbying adds major sports institutions to the ongoing federal debate over prediction market regulation, marking their first formal engagement alongside the industry's growth into sports-linked contracts. The request comes as platforms like Kalshi and Robinhood broaden their sports event-contract products and as state-level conflicts over prediction market legality intensify.
Any CFTC rule change would force Kalshi, Robinhood and Rothera to reengineer onboarding flows and geofencing logic for the 18-20 cohort, a demographic that sportsbooks already exclude. The leagues are deploying the same lobbying playbook that has kept commercial sports betting age floors at 21 nationwide.
Adds the NBA, PGA Tour and NCAA to the NFL, MLB and NHL on the league side of the prediction-markets fight, joining six major sports institutions now formally lobbying federal regulators to tighten controls on event contracts.