NCAA Decries Kalshi Filing to Offer Contracts on Transfer Portal Entrants
By Robert Linnehan in Sports Betting News
Published:
- Kalshi this week filed to offer contracts on NCAA athletes entering the transfer portal
- The NCAA has formally decried the potential offerings from the prediction market company
- Kalshi has yet to offer the contracts to the public
The NCAA is not a fan of Kalshi’s potential plan to offer event contracts on student-athletes potentially entering or withdrawing from the college transfer portal.
As first reported by InGame, Kalshi this week self-certified event contracts with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to allow trades on NCAA athletes entering the transfer portal.
The contracts have raised the ire of NCAA President Charlie Baker, who says the association “vehemently opposes” the company’s potential offering.
Not Available to Public Yet
On Tuesday, Dec. 16, Kalshi self-certified the following offering with the CFTC:
“Will <player> <enter/withdraw from> the transfer portal in <time period>?”
According to the self-certification, Kalshi had the ability to begin offering the contracts to the public on Wednesday, Dec. 17. The contracts have not yet been made available on Kalshi markets, however.
This morning, Baker took to his social media page on X to criticize the new offerings. The NCAA president said the new event contracts will put undo pressure on student-athletes and threaten competition integrity.
“The @NCAA vehemently opposes college sports prediction markets. It is already bad enough that student-athletes face harassment and abuse for lost bets on game performance, and now Kalshi wants to offer bets on their transfer decisions and status — this is absolutely unacceptable and would place even greater pressure on student-athletes while threatening competition integrity and recruiting processes. Their decisions and future should not be gambled with, especially in an unregulated marketplace that does not follow any rules of legitimate sports betting operators,” he said.
According to ESPN’s David Purdum, a Kalshi spokesperson said the company has no immediate plans to offer the contracts.
Kalshi noted on its own newsroom social media channel on X that it self-certifies markets “all the time that we do not end up listing.”
It reported that users with nonpublic information will be prohibited from trading on potential transfer portal markets. It also pointed to its in-house and third-party surveillance systems that monitor for suspicious activity, which can lead to cases being referred to the CFTC for potential enforcement.
What Makes An Official Announcement?
Included in Kalshi’s self-certification of the event contract are various examples of what would make an official announcement of either entering or withdrawing a transfer portal.
According to the self-certification, a valid announcement occurs when an athlete posts a statement on their personal social media account, a source agency reports the athlete has announced a decision to enter or withdrawn, or when an athlete’s athletic department issues a statement confirming the player has entered or withdrawn the portal.
But what if an athlete publicly announces their intent to enter the portal? And then subsequently announces they have changed their mind? Kalshi reports that the market would still resolve to “yes,” because the athlete already announced their intent to enter.
Regulatory Writer and Editor
Robert Linnehan covers all regulatory developments in online gambling and sports betting. He specializes in U.S. sports betting news along with casino regulation news as one of the most trusted sources in the country.
