The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the National Hockey League on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding to share information and coordinate on integrity issues tied to professional hockey and related event contracts on CFTC-regulated exchanges.
Under the terms of the agreement, each organization has designated representatives who will communicate regularly, discuss integrity concerns, share confidential data, and maintain open lines of communication, the CFTC said.
The NHL said it has also “implemented layered protections to monitor these markets, working directly with its partners to ensure integrity.”
The MOU gives the CFTC a direct channel to league-side intelligence when suspicious trading patterns or event-level integrity risks surface on prediction market exchanges.
“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,” said CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig.
MLB deal set the template
The NHL agreement follows an MOU the CFTC signed with Major League Baseball on March 19, described at the time as the first of its kind between the commission and a professional sports league.
Both deals are part of a CFTC push in 2026 to formalize oversight of sports-related event contracts. In March, the agency issued a staff advisory to designated contract markets flagging heightened manipulation risk in certain sports contracts and encouraging exchanges to engage with leagues. It also published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on prediction markets the same month.
Sports Business Journal reported that Selig has framed these league partnerships as a way to gain subject matter expertise on what is “easily manipulated on the field,” helping the CFTC better regulate a market category it is still learning to supervise.
