Prediction market roundup: Saquon forced to unload stake in Polymarket under NFL rules

Last month, LeBron James inked a landmark deal with Polymarket, jumping to the prediction market operator after the expiration of his multi-year contract with DraftKings.

James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, signed with Polymarket weeks before appearing in his first regular-season game with the Philadelphia 76ers. With the signing, James joined Eli Manning, Derek Jeter and Spike Lee among a contingent of celebrities who have endorsed Polymarket. But unlike James, another major athlete in the City of Brotherly Love has cut ties with the company.

Earlier this week, Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley told Front Office Sports that he has divested his investment with Polymarket. Barkley, a three-time Pro Bowler, explained in an interview that he received guidance from the NFL to unload the undisclosed investment. As the NFL continues to oppose proposed rules from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission on sports event contracts, Barkley indicated that the new guidelines came from the league ahead of the regular season.

“I was in it before, but no bueno,” Barkley told Front Office Sports.

While the NFL does not appear close to reaching a partnership with a prediction market, the NBA signed a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding with the CFTC this week. In establishing a framework for event contracts on the NBA, the league designated Kalshi and Polymarket as preferred prediction market partners. The NBA also gained veto power to prohibit certain contracts the league deems objectionable.

Kalshi founders facing charges in Utah

Over the last year, Kalshi has faced litigation from more than a dozen states as federal circuit courts remain split on whether sports event contracts qualify as swaps.

However, a criminal complaint filed this week by Utah Attorney General Derek Brown raises the stakes. A complaint filed 29 October by the attorney general’s office named two Kalshi executives, CEO Tarek Mansour and COO Luana Lopes Lara, as defendants. Brown filed the charges after an undercover agent placed 12 sports trades on the platform, amounting to $114.87.

Brown issued the complaint less than two weeks after Utah sued Kalshi, declaring that gambling represents a “public nuisance” by inflicting “substantial harm” on state residents. The executives are facing 12 counts of online gaming promotion, as well as a single count of pattern of unlawful activity.

“This is a crazy overreach; Utah is clearly playing politics,” said a Kalshi spokesperson. “We look forward to putting a stop to this.”

Separately, Kalshi completed a $1 billion funding round on Thursday at a valuation of $40 billion. Sequoia Capital and Wellington Management co-led the latest round of funding.

Since receiving a $22 billion valuation in May, the company’s value has shot up 81.8% in just a few months. In October 2025, Kalshi’s valuation hovered around $5 billion.

Polymarket offshore market briefly halts exchange after hack

For a period of nearly four hours on Thursday, Polymarket halted trading on its offshore exchange after a security breach drained the funds of hundreds of users on the platform.

In one instance, cyber hackers drained approximately $2.73 million from roughly 737 accounts over a period of an hour, according to tracking firms Bitquery and Arkham. Polymarket blamed the intrusion on a flaw from DebugBear, a third-party site that provides real-time monitoring capabilities.

“Anyone who has been impacted will be made whole,” Polymarket wrote on the social media platform X.

On balance, most of the compromised accounts belong to retail traders who lost fewer than $1,000 each. Approximately two out of five accounts lost less than $100, while the median loss per account was $171. Conversely, several major accounts took a substantial hit during the breach. Four accounts lost more than $100,000 each, according to Bitquery, comprising 43% of affected accounts.

As of Friday afternoon, Polymarket said at least 689 of the affected accounts had been refunded in full. Polymarket is cooperating with law enforcement on an active investigation, the company said on X.