A number of parties filed amicus briefs to the Supreme Court of the United States last week, urging it to take up a case on whether sports-based prediction market contracts are swaps, or not. And on Friday, the CFTC put out two proposals (one of which is now in effect) outlining its own thoughts on the matter.

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Former Senator Chris Dodd, former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (and Securities and Exchange Commission) Chair Gary Gensler, the National Football League, 39 states (and the District of Columbia), 145 tribal nations and various other parties filed amicus briefs to the Supreme Court urging it to take up this case, and with many arguing that sports-based prediction market products aren't swaps and shouldn't be regulated by the CFTC.

This newsletter covered the possibility of the Supreme Court wading into prediction markets a month ago. That calculus hasn't changed; there is now a major circuit court split, with two appellate courts ruling that prediction markets touching sports are actually gambling products that should be regulated by the states, and one appellate court ruling it's a CFTC issue.

Most of the amicus briefs filed last week urged the Supreme Court to side with the states; that is, rule that at least sports-related prediction markets are actually gambling products that should be regulated at the state level and not the federal level.

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