Eagles running back Saquon Barkley sold his equity stake in Polymarket after NFL rules barred players from holding prediction-market investments. The case sets the league apart from the NBA and MLB, which have signed deals with the exchanges, as the NFL argues at the Supreme Court that sports event contracts are gambling.
Saquon Barkley no longer owns a piece of Polymarket. The Eagles running back sold his equity stake to comply with league rules, he told Front Office Sports in an interview published October 28. It is the first public case of the NFL applying its gambling rules to a player’s prediction-market investment.
Barkley bought into Polymarket before the league told players they could not hold such investments. The NFL goes over endorsement, investment and training rules with players before every season.
The league has now made clear that its sportsbook restrictions extend to prediction markets. It declined to comment on Barkley’s case specifically. The stance was not new to players. Kalshi and Polymarket were already off-limits to them as endorsers or brand ambassadors in January 2026. At that point, prediction markets were treated as gambling entities under the league’s gambling policy.
Other leagues are signing the exchanges the NFL keeps at arm’s length
The NFL’s approach puts it at odds with other major leagues. Polymarket became Major League Baseball’s Official Prediction Market Exchange on March 19, 2026. On October 26, 2026, the NBA named both companies its preferred prediction-market exchanges. The agreement gives them rights to league intellectual property and marketing.
NBA players face far lighter limits. They can hold stakes in the exchanges and appear in their marketing. The line is drawn only at promoting contracts on NBA games.
The split also shuts NFL players out of an industry that leans heavily on their sport. By the league’s own figures, football made up $1.8 billion of prediction-market trading on the season’s first Sunday. That was more than half of the day’s total.
The NFL wants state gambling law to govern sports contracts
The league is pressing that view at the Supreme Court. On October 8, 2026, it filed an amicus brief supporting New Jersey’s request for review in Flaherty v. KalshiEX, case No. 26-299. The NFL argued that sports prediction contracts are gambling. In its view, they are not financial swaps under exclusive federal oversight.
New Jersey filed its petition on September 2, 2026. It followed an April ruling in which the Third Circuit sided 2-1 with Kalshi. The appeals court found that the CFTC has exclusive oversight of sports-event contracts.
Many of the NFL’s concerns will be addressed through the CFTC’s ongoing rulemaking, Kalshi spokesperson Elisabeth Diana said. In her view, the agency already has the power to police sports-related event contracts.
The Supreme Court granted Kalshi a 30-day extension to answer New Jersey. Its response, originally due October 8, must now be filed by November 9.
Sources
- MLB names Polymarket exclusive Prediction Market Exchange partner and signs agreement with CFTC to establish … (Major League Baseball)
- Giannis Antetokounmpo Teams Up With Kalshi (Kalshi)
- NFL Told Saquon Barkley to Divest Polymarket Stake (Front Office Sports)
- No. 26-299, Flaherty v. KalshiEX, LLC – Brief of Amicus Curiae National Football League (Supreme Court of the United States)
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