NCAA blasts prediction market Kalshi for offering bets on college athletes to enter transfer portal

Prediction markets and the NCAA will likely be at odds with each other for the foreseeable future.Kalshi, the leading prediction market exchange in the United States, which legally offers trading on how real-life events (including sports) will transpire, recently filed to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to allow wagering on whether a college athlete will or won’t enter the transfer portal.The company confirmed to The Post that contracts regarding whether a player would enter the transfer portal were indeed ratified, likely to the NCAA’s ire.“The NCAA vehemently opposes college sports prediction markets,” NCAA president Charlie Baker told ESPN.“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.”The “Yes” side would win if a player publicly states their intention to enter the transfer portal, with “No” presumably being a winning bet if the portal closes with no movement from that player.A Kalshi spokesperson responded to the NCAA’s critical remarks and added that the company may never actually offer these markets.“It’s inaccurate to say we are unregulated,” the spokesperson told The Post.“We are a federally regulated exchange, governed by the Commodity Exchange Act and its hundreds of regulations.

We as a company also have comprehensive internal policies to address trading integrity and responsibility issues, including in-house and third-party surveillance systems that monitor trading activity.We run Know-Your-Customer checks on everyone who trades on our platform.”Kalshi and other prediction markets offer trading on a wide range of markets, including Over/Under bets on weather temperatures, snowfall, elections and more.Prediction markets als...