Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley has sold off his equity in Polymarket. The reason: NFL rules bar players from putting money into — or pitching — gambling and prediction-market businesses. Barkley confirmed the move to Front Office Sports, saying he is no longer an investor and that the league gave him no alternative.

The admission says a lot about how broadly the NFL now reads its gambling policy. It reaches into prediction markets, even as rival leagues rush to sign commercial deals with the very same platforms.

Barkley's stake in Polymarket surfaced publicly in a September 2025 look at his investment portfolio, which named the platform among his start-up bets. At some point between that profile and this summer, the league informed players that financial interests in prediction-market platforms were off limits.

According to the Eagles star, the NFL runs players through a briefing before every season covering endorsements, investments and training. Those rules, he said, now include a ban on doing business with prediction markets. He had been invested before the change, he said, but had to exit. He did not say when he sold.

Where The League Stands

The NFL confirmed on Wednesday that its ban on investing in and promoting sportsbooks covers prediction markets too. It would not discuss Barkley's case. Polymarket also declined to comment.

The policy itself is not new. A spokesperson for the NFL Players Association told Front Office Sports in January that the league classifies prediction markets as gambling entities, which means players cannot serve as endorsers or brand ambassadors for companies like Kalshi or Polymarket.

The NFL does have official betting partners — DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics — but no prediction-market deal. Last year it kept prediction-market commercials out of the Super Bowl. It has also asked the Supreme Court to hear a case on sports-event contracts, arguing that for now such markets should be regulated by states, not Washington.

Rival Leagues Go The Other Way

Among the big US leagues, the NFL increasingly stands alone. The NBA said this week that Kalshi and Polymarket are its preferred prediction-market partners, though the agreement does not extend to the WNBA. Front Office Sports reported that MLB's exclusive Polymarket deal, signed in March, is worth as much as $300 million across four years.

MLS struck a Polymarket agreement in January. The NHL got there first, naming Kalshi and Polymarket as partners last October.

Players are following the money. NBA athletes may hold small passive stakes in betting companies but cannot promote NBA-related bets, a source told Front Office Sports. Giannis Antetokounmpo has invested in Kalshi. LeBron James has a Polymarket partnership that FOS reported pays him $15 million a year. Golfer Bryson DeChambeau has a deal with Kalshi.

What It Means For Fans And Bettors

The takeaway for fans: the NFL holds its own players to a strict line while its commercial partners stay in traditional betting. If you want to bet on football, our guide to US NFL sportsbooks lets you compare licensed operators.

How much athletes can get involved still varies from league to league.

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