NCAA 'vehemently opposes' Kalshi's plan for prediction markets on transfer portal
Charlie Baker released a scathing statement on social media in response to Kalshi's proposal
By
Will Backus
•
1 min read
NCAA president Charlie Baker released a statement Thursday saying the NCAA is "vehemently opposed" to prediction market Kalshi's proposal to allow trading on whether college athletes will enter the transfer portal. Kalshi notified a federal regulator Wednesday that it will begin self-certifying markets though it has no plans to immediately offer trading on the portal, according to ESPN.
"The NCAA vehemently opposes college sports prediction markets," Baker wrote. "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."
InGame initially reported Kalshi's move to allow transfer portal trading. The markets would be based on whether or not a player would enter the transfer portal and where they would commit upon entering the portal. Bets placed would be won or lost based on "public announcements" made by the player or an affiliated team.
Prediction markets, which operate under the supervision of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, allow users to bet on 50/50 decisions -- such as whether or not a school will hire a certain coach. Trades are dependent upon the outcome and can be sold before the actual decision takes place, like a stock.
Since prediction markets fall under the federal umbrella, that means they are available in all 50 states. Sportsbooks are subject to an individual state's jurisdiction and, as of now, have not proposed any sort of markets on transfer portal futures.
The college football transfer portal is set to open on Jan. 2, though many athletes have already announced their intentions to explore other opportunities.
