The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), under the sole leadership of Republican Michael Selig, announced a memorandum of understanding with the National Hockey League to "protect the integrity of professional hockey and maintain a fair and transparent forecasting market."

In a statement released Thursday, Selig said the move aims to protect prediction market users from "insider trading, fraud, and other abuses." The CFTC continues to claim "exclusive jurisdiction" over platforms including Kalshi and Polymarket.

The organization signed a similar agreement with Major League Baseball in March, at which time the league announced that Polymarket would become its official prediction market exchange.

The CFTC stated that the agreement with the NHL will allow both parties to "share information and collaborate on the platform to protect the fairness of contracts for professional hockey and related events." The NHL's 2026-27 season is scheduled to begin in September, but as of Thursday, Kalshi and Polymarket had already listed contracts for the Stanley Cup playoffs, which have been running since April.

Source: CFTC

Under Selig's leadership, as chairman of the CFTC and its sole commissioner, he repeatedly claimed that only the agency had the authority to oversee and regulate prediction markets. At the chairman's direction, the CFTC has initiated legal action against state authorities in Ohio, Connecticut, Illinois, and New York regarding prediction market issues, and recently took action in Minnesota regarding what it calls a state's "first comprehensive ban" on these platforms.

The CFTC leadership was originally expected to be comprised of a bipartisan group of five commissioners, but Selig has been the sole member since December. Despite urging from lawmakers, as of Thursday, US President Donald Trump had not publicly announced any nominees to fill those seats.

Polymarket submitted an application to "list portfolio outcome contracts".

On Wednesday, Polymarket submitted a self-certification letter for its product to CFTC Secretary Christopher Kirkpatrick. According to the company, this move will allow Polymarket to merge two or more underlying event contracts on its platform.