Polymarket expands sports parlays amid SEC review

Polymarket filed to launch parlay-style prediction market contracts in the United States, expanding its push into sports-related event trading as regulators intensify scrutiny of the sector.

The filing submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission described “combinatorial outcome contracts” that would bundle multiple prediction outcomes together, requiring every selected outcome to settle correctly for the contract to pay out.

Under the proposed structure, contracts would resolve to $1 only if all underlying predictions proved accurate, effectively creating a parlay-style product similar to sports betting combinations.

Because the filing used the CFTC’s self-certification process, Polymarket is not seeking formal approval but notifying regulators that it intends to list the contracts no earlier than May 21.

At the same time, US Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins said the agency would seek public input on how it should approach exchange-traded funds linked to prediction markets and event contracts.

Atkins said:

“Novel products raise novel questions”

While acknowledging that several ETF sponsors had delayed launches tied to event-contract markets as regulators assess potential implications.

Prediction markets have faced mounting political and legal pressure in the United States as state regulators and gambling companies argue sports-related contracts resemble gambling products that should fall under state jurisdiction rather than federal commodities oversight.

The dispute has increasingly drawn attention from Congress and the courts, with legal observers expecting the Supreme Court of the United States to eventually weigh in on whether prediction markets should be treated as financial derivatives or sports betting products.