Players’ unions push to ban betting on athlete ‘unders’

Major players’ unions have opened a new front in the fight over sports betting, urging federal regulators to block markets that profit from an athlete falling short.

According to reports, the unions representing players in the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, and MLS have asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to ban prediction market platforms from offering contracts tied to a player’s underperformance or injury. The push targets so-called “unders” bets, which can turn a missed milestone, a bad night, or a physical setback into a financial opportunity for traders and bettors.

The unions’ message is straightforward: if a market rewards an athlete’s slump or injury, regulators should step in.

The argument centers on athlete protection. In their letter, the unions reportedly called for “appropriate regulations” and warned that these products create the wrong incentives around player health and performance. That concern lands at a moment when sports betting has spread quickly across the US, while prediction markets test the boundaries between financial products and gambling.

The request also signals a wider concern about where sports-related trading could go next. Traditional betting has already raised alarms over harassment of players and the pressure that gambling can place on individual performances. Markets built around an athlete doing worse, not better, may intensify those fears by attaching direct value to failure, absence, or harm.

What happens next matters well beyond one category of bets. The CFTC’s response could help define how far prediction market platforms can move into sports and where regulators draw the line between innovation and exploitation. If the agency acts, it could reshape a fast-growing market; if it does not, leagues, unions, and platforms may be headed for a much bigger clash over who gets to profit from the risks athletes carry.