CFTC and NHL enter into Memorandum of Understanding to enhance integrity of prediction markets

On May 21, 2026, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the National Hockey League (NHL) announced that they signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) intended to protect the integrity of professional hockey and maintain fair and transparent prediction markets.¹ Under the MOU, the CFTC and NHL intend to share information and coordinate to protect the integrity of both professional hockey and related event contracts offered on CFTC-regulated exchanges.

The MOU reflects the parties’ shared recognition that cooperation and information exchange may further their respective missions where issues of common interest—such as the integrity of professional hockey and related event contract markets—may affect both the sport and the markets tied to it.²

Information sharing and confidentiality:

Under the MOU, the parties state their intent to discuss, cooperate and exchange information concerning issues of common interest in a manner consistent with applicable law. The MOU anticipates that cooperation will occur primarily through informal consultations and through other arrangements that the parties may develop. It also contemplates that representatives of the CFTC and NHL will endeavor to meet, as mutually agreed, to identify and discuss issues that may affect professional hockey integrity and related event contract markets.

The CFTC and NHL each have designated representatives who will communicate regularly to discuss integrity-related issues, share information confidentially and ensure open lines of communication. Additionally, the NHL has implemented layered protections to monitor these markets, working directly with its partners to support integrity.

The MOU is limited in legal effect as it does not supersede applicable laws or regulations, including Section 8 of the Commodity Exchange Act and the Privacy Act of 1974. The MOU also makes clear that it does not modify the CFTC’s ability and responsibility to enforce the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations.

The agreement also includes confidentiality protections for exchanged information. Among other things, the MOU provides that a party receiving shared information can only use it for the purposes set forth in the MOU and must keep such information confidential (subject to certain exceptions). It must also notify the originating party if the information becomes subject to a legally enforceable demand for disclosure. 

Practical implications:

In practical terms, the MOU signals a continued effort by the CFTC to develop information-sharing frameworks around sports-related prediction markets. The MOU between the CFTC and the NHL is not the first of its kind, as the CFTC entered into a similar MOU with the Major League Baseball (MLB) in March 2026.³

For exchanges, intermediaries and other market participants offering or supporting sports-related event contracts, the MOU itself does not impose new legal obligations, but it reflects the CFTC’s increasing focus on integrity-related information sharing in sports-linked prediction markets. The agreement suggests that surveillance, escalation and controls relating to nonpublic information, fraud, manipulation and other market integrity risks may become increasingly important as the CFTC develops coordination frameworks with leagues and other event stakeholders.

More broadly, the MOU may be viewed as part of a developing regulatory framework for sports-related prediction markets rather than as an isolated agreement. By formalizing channels for communication between the CFTC and the NHL, the MOU indicates that professional sports leagues may play a growing role in providing event-specific integrity information to federal regulators where league events serve as the basis for CFTC-regulated contracts.

__________

If you have any questions about this Legal Briefing, please feel free to contact any of the attorneys listed or the Eversheds Sutherland attorney with whom you regularly work.

_{1 See CFTC Press Release No. 9235-26 (May 21, 2026), CFTC and National Hockey League Sign MOU Related to Integrity in Professional Hockey, available here.
2 Memorandum of Understanding between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the National Hockey League, available here.
3 See CFTC Press Release No. 9199-26 (Mar. 19, 2026), CFTC and MLB Sign Groundbreaking MOU, available here.}