Kalshi files esports player-stat contracts with the CFTC, bars insiders

KalshiEX LLC, an exchange registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a designated contract market, filed a new event contract on esports player statistics with the federal regulator on March 6, 2026. The filing, published by the CFTC, takes the form of a self-certification: the exchange certifies that the contract complies with the law and lists it, without waiting for an approval.

For the scene, the integrity rules written into it matter most. It sets out which sources decide a result, how far the exchange defers to the decisions of tournament organizers, and a long list of people who may not trade the contracts at all: players, coaches, referees, organizer staff, developer employees and their families.

KalshiEX LLC self-certification to the CFTC, submitted March 6, 2026, published by the Commission.

What the filing covers

The cover letter is signed by Xavier Sottile, Head of Markets at KalshiEX. It cites Section 5c(c) of the Commodity Exchange Act, the federal law that governs futures and similar contracts, and Regulation 40.2(a) of the CFTC's rules. The contract was to be listed for the first time after the close of business on March 6.

The rulebook carries the name ESPORTSENTITYSTAT and sits in the exchange's Sports category. Its subject, in the filing's summary, is the statistical performance of a specific esports player over the timeframe of an event. Each contract is built from one template question about whether a named entity will record a given statistic in a given period of an esports event.

The entity is broader than one player. The filing defines it as one or more players, teams, rosters or defined categories of participants chosen by the exchange, including a group such as any player in a lobby. A roster substitution in the middle of an event does not change the entity, unless the governing body treats the new line-up as a separate entry.

The statistics the filing lists, without limiting itself to them, run across the main competitive games: kills, deaths and assists, headshots, first bloods, aces, rounds and maps won, gold earned, towers destroyed, and objectives specific to one game, such as Baron Nashor kills in League of Legends or Roshan kills in Dota 2. Its game-specific sources cover Counter-Strike, League of Legends, Dota 2 and Valorant.

The filing is not tied to a fixed list of tournaments. It defines an esports event as a professional competition, or a defined part of one, as specified by the exchange, including but not limited to competitions sanctioned by Riot Games, Valve, ESL FACEIT Group, BLAST, PGL, Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Epic Games and the International Esports Federation. A scrimmage or a show match counts only if the exchange designates it. The exchange says it intends to list the contract on a custom basis, with iterations listed on an as-needed basis at its own discretion.

How self-certification works

Regulation 40.2 sets out what a registered exchange must send the Commission before it lists a product that the Commission has not approved under the separate approval route of Regulation 40.3. The submission must reach the Commission electronically by the open of business on the business day before listing, and state the intended listing date.

It must include the intended listing date, a copy of the rules that set the contract's terms, a certification that the product complies with the Act and the Commission's regulations, and a concise explanation and analysis of the terms and of the product's compliance with the core principles of the law. The exchange must also post a notice of the pending certification, with a copy of the submission, on its own website at the time of filing.

The Commission keeps powers after listing. Its staff may ask for evidence or data showing that the contract meets the requirements of the Act, at the start or on a continuing basis. Under Regulation 40.2(c), the Commission may stay a listing during proceedings over a false certification, or while a petition to change the contract's terms is pending, and that decision cannot be delegated to a member of staff.

Part of the document stays out of public view. Appendices A and B, the contract terms and the trading prohibitions, are public. Appendices C, D and E, covering further considerations, the source agency and compliance with the core principles, are marked confidential, under a request made through Regulations 40.8 and 145.9.

The filing arrives a month after a change of course at the Commission on event contracts in general. On February 4, 2026, the CFTC withdrew a proposed rule titled Event Contracts, published on June 10, 2024, and said it would not finalize it. Its staff also withdrew Staff Letter 25-36, an advisory on sports event contracts issued on September 30, 2025. Chairman Michael S. Selig said the advisory had inadvertently created confusion and uncertainty for market participants, and that the Commission would advance a new rulemaking. "I look forward to working with staff on an event contracts rulemaking," he said.

Official data first: how a result is settled

The value that settles each contract is the entity's official statistical record for the period named. The filing ranks thirteen source agencies in order, and the official ones come first.

The ranking matters for integrity as much as for settlement. Official records come before any third-party source, so the organizer's own figures, and its decisions on what counts, decide the outcome before any community or press account of the same match.

When play does not go to plan

Much of Appendix A deals with matches that do not run as scheduled: substitutions, disqualifications, forfeits, replays, disconnections, postponements, cancellations, game patches and changes of format. Across these cases the filing defers to the governing body. Statistics that the organizer voids do not count, and only the portion of play that the governing body officially replays and counts is taken into account. New official rules govern a change of format.

Where the official record leaves a case open, the filing gives the decision to the exchange itself, at its sole discretion, including through its Market Outcome Review Process, set out in its Rule 7.1. The filing does not describe any consultation with the organizer or the publisher in those cases.

Who may not trade

Appendix B, the trading prohibitions, begins with the exchange's general ban on trading on material nonpublic information, and then lists the people barred from these contracts outright:

• the entity itself, its current members, and its coaching, management and support staff;
• the players, coaches and staff of opposing teams;
• paid employees of the event's organizer, governing body or sanctioning organization;
• referees, observers, administrators and anti-cheat officials assigned to the event;
• employees of the game developer with access to non-public match or anti-cheat data;
• employees of the official statistics provider with access to data before its release;
• anyone with non-public information on roster changes, player health, disciplinary matters or suspensions;
• the immediate family and household members of all of the above.

The appendix adds that persons under 18 years of age are not permitted to create accounts on the exchange, and says the exchange will institute additional prohibitions, without detailing them. It does not describe how the bans are monitored or enforced, and it says nothing about cooperation with tournament organizers, publishers or integrity bodies.

Where the scene's own rules already stand

The groups in the filing overlap with rules the scene already applies to betting.

The Esports Integrity Commission's anti-corruption code, in force since May 1, 2016, prohibits participants from betting on any match or event in the game they play professionally or are involved in any other capacity, and from using inside information for betting purposes. Its participants include players and support personnel such as coaches, managers, team owners and agents affiliated with a team or a player, a status that lasts for 24 months after the affiliation ends.

The filing's reliance on official sources also echoes a choice publishers have made for their own circuits. When Riot Games opened betting sponsorships to Tier 1 League of Legends and Valorant teams in the Americas and EMEA on June 26, 2025, it required any potential betting partner to use GRID, its official data distributor, to power its offerings, and to be vetted and approved by Riot first. Riot said it applies the same scrutiny to every betting brand.

The filing does not address whether trading an event contract on an exchange counts as a bet under those codes.

Prediction platforms had already reached esports business this year. The Esports Advocate reported on February 10 that BLAST named Polymarket its official prediction partner for the rest of 2026, across seven of its Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2 events, starting with BLAST Slam VI in Malta. No financial terms were disclosed.

What comes next

The contract is listed under the exchange's own certification, and its later versions depend on the exchange's choices: which players, events and statistics it adds on its custom basis. The Commission keeps the powers Regulation 40.2 gives it to ask for data and to stay a listing.

At the federal level, the next step announced so far is the new event contracts rulemaking promised by Chairman Selig on February 4, with no date given.

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