Home NFL to block Super Bowl prediction market commercials

NFL to block Super Bowl prediction market commercials

It appears that ads from companies like Polymarket or Kalshi will not air during the upcoming Super Bowl. According to the NFL, the league placed prediction market commercials under its “prohibited categories” for Super Bowl advertising on February 8.

As reported by Front Office Sports, prediction markets now sit under the same category as tobacco, pornography, firearms, “and other controversial subjects.”

Prediction markets have become a concern within the sports industry. It’s something that the NFL has pushed back on, despite other companies using their name and licensing, gladly adopting it.

In recent months, more news has broken about games being allegedly thrown over gambling. While these have mostly stemmed from proposition bets, there has been increasing scrutiny of prediction markets.

NFL cracks down on prediction market ads for the Super Bowl amid betting scandals

Gambling commercials aren’t off the table, as a maximum of six have said to be airing this year. However, the NFL is pushing back on prediction markets, as it claims that they don’t have the same safeguards in place that regular sportsbooks would provide.

On Kalshi, the bet for the Super Bowl game is weirdly titled as seen by ReadWrite. Rather than using any of the NFL’s branding, like “Super Bowl”, “Seattle Seahawks”, or “New England Patriots”, it is has been labelled “Pro Football Champion” in some instances.

Screenshots of prediction market interfaces showing a ‘Pro Football Champion: Seattle vs New England’ wager and a ‘Stanley Cup Champion?’ market, with odds, percentages, and total betting volume displayed.
Examples of prediction markets offering championship wagers for the NFL and NHL. Credit: Kalshi / Polymarket

The wager currently predicts that the Seahawks, or just “Seattle”, will win against “New England” to become the victor. The same is also for the NBA, or “Pro Basketball Champion” game.

Meanwhile, as a hockey league, the NHL has gladly accepted prediction markets as part of the world of the game; it is fully licensed, with logos and registration marks.

Despite this, Kalshi currently has a $153,624,734 volume for the game, meaning large cash payouts are expected. Polymarket has a considerably larger volume, with it sitting at $695,749,958. It also using the same terminology on the wager.

Prediction market listing titled ‘Pro Football Champion 2026’ showing Seattle at 68% and New England at 31%, with yes/no betting options and nearly 0 million in total volume.
Prediction market odds for the 2026 pro football champion show heavy interest and high trading volume. Credit: Kalshi

Featured image: NFL via Wikicommons, David Morris

About ReadWrite’s Editorial Process

The ReadWrite Editorial policy involves closely monitoring the gambling and blockchain industries for major developments, new product and brand launches, game releases and other newsworthy events. Editors assign relevant stories to in-house staff writers with expertise in each particular topic area. Before publication, articles go through a rigorous round of editing for accuracy, clarity, and to ensure adherence to ReadWrite's style guidelines.

Joel Loynds
Freelance Journalist

Joel Loynd’s obsession with uncovering bad games and even worse hardware so you don’t have to has led him on this path. Since the age of six, he’s been poking at awful games and oddities from his ever-expanding Steam library. He’s been writing about video games since 2008, writing for sites such as WePC and PC Guide, as well as covering gaming for Scan Computers, More recently Joel was Dexerto’s E-Commerce and Deputy Tech Editor, delving deep into the exploding handheld market and covering the weird and wonderful world of the latest tech.